


Methodology

by memorizingthedigitsofpi



Series: An Elaborate Proof [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Academy Era, F/M, Fake Science, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Humour, Sequel, Smut, sexy science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-03-14 00:46:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 34,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3402266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memorizingthedigitsofpi/pseuds/memorizingthedigitsofpi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to my fic An Elaborate Proof. Fitz and Simmons work on expanding his theory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Both Kinds of Chemistry

**Author's Note:**

> This picks up where An Elaborate Proof leaves off. You'll probably want to read that one first. Don't worry about the fact that it's 20 chapters, though... my chapters tend to be short.

Jemma jogged back to her dorm room overflowing with inspiration. Not only did she now have a clear idea of how her newest project with Fitz would move forward, she had also realized what had been causing the problem with her QNB-T13 serum. This was brilliant!

After hanging up her jacket and depositing her bookbag on the floor by her desk, she took out her laptop to work up some models of chemical interactions.

First, though, she was going to redo that concentration test Fitz had coded. Her first time of 8:43 still rankled, especially in comparison to Fitz's 2:17. Now that she wasn't... _distracted_... she'd give him a run for his money.

It was much easier this time, and she didn't think that was just because she'd done it once before. After she clicked the last square, her time popped up again.

Hah! Take _that_ Fitz! Almost a full minute faster! She made a mental note to tell him that the next day.

For the research, of course.

With that out of the way, she settled in to further investigate the thiopental derivative options that might solve her serum issues.

\-----------------------

Fitz turned awkwardly in front of the mirror on his closet door. No matter how much he twisted, he couldn't seem to get a good look.

Sighing, he took off yet another pair of trousers. He was making a pile of the ones that were too big, and he was going to bring them over to the charity shop next time he went into town. From the looks of things, he'd have to invest in several more pairs while he was there.

He blushed, remembering the way Simmons had patted his bum before going back to her room. He definitely wanted to encourage that as much as possible.

Now he just had to figure out a way to look at his own butt.

\-----------------------

Jemma worked her way methodically through the different options she had open to her. She was having fun running simulations on the various compounds, and she was getting some really satisfying results. By breaking them down and diagramming them, she was starting to see where she'd gone wrong in her previous attempts.

Of course, now that she was getting closer to the answer, she'd really have to get on Fitz about the delivery mechanism. He'd promised her it would be done by the end of the month, but he had a tendency to get distracted sometimes. Opening up her messaging program, she noticed he was online. If she was lucky, she'd be able to talk him into working on it tomorrow despite there being a match on that he wanted to watch.

Seeing that he seemed to be active and online, she clicked on his webcam icon. It automatically connected, as usual.

Her eyebrows rose and she couldn't help smiling.

"Well done, Fitz!" she congratulated him. "Very nice indeed."

"What?!" Fitz spun around quickly with a horrified look at his monitor. There was Simmons, laughing and smiling at him. He'd just meant to try to _see_ his behind! He hadn't meant to _broadcast_ it! He quickly checked to make sure none of the other cadets on his list had logged in and seen that.

"Aww," Simmons continued, a disappointed note in her voice. "I hadn't even had a proper look yet!"

"Ha. Ha." He rolled his eyes at her. "Cheeky."

She let out another laugh. "Interesting choice of words."

He sighed. "Walked right into that one."

"Could you do it backwards next time? I quite like the view."

"Oh god."

"--ust I don't get to see it --"

"I've created a monster."

"--ways wear your shirts untuck--"

"A sex monster."

"--aggy jeans just leave _everything_ to the ima--"

"A monster for sex."

"--fine _now_ , but wasn't very helpful _bef--_ "

"You're just insatiable, y'know?"

"--what your bum looks like. And yes, I do know that actually." She grinned at him. "Although you did quite a good job of _sating_ me earlier tonight."

He blushed again. "Yes. Well... I mean." He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. He really needed to learn how to flirt at some point. Mental note on that. Staring at his friend in his monitor, he blurted the first thing that came to his mind. "You're gorgeous!" 

Now it was Jemma's turn to blush. "You really think so?" Before their adventures earlier today, she hadn't even thought he'd realized she was a girl. Admittedly, she hadn't really allowed herself to notice him as a boy, either.

Fitz nodded. "Definitely!" he replied with feeling.

Her smile widened across her whole face. "You are too."

He sat there for a moment, jaw slightly open. No way. "You're just taking the piss." He'd seen her usual boyfriends. No _way_ she thought he was gorgeous.

"If I am, then why did I just spend the better part of a whole day making out with you?"

She had a point there. But if there was anything Leo Fitz wasn't, it was someone who gave up on an argument. "... Science?"

Jemma laughed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. _Science_." She bit her lip and decided to seize her opportunity. "Now turn around again so I can use y=mx+b to calculate the slope of your ass."

He briefly considered correcting her maths but decided he'd better not. If Jemma Simmons wanted to check out his butt, who was he to argue? He stood up and turned his back on the camera once more.

"Alright, fine. But just for a minute. I have other things to do tonight than be objectified by you."

"Name three."


	2. Michael Jackson playing softly in the distance

After he'd finally convinced Simmons to let him turn off his webcam, Fitz decided to do some actual work. Might as well take advantage of the fact that he was thinking on all cylinders, right? And he had some ideas for data analysis that he wanted to try out.

The graphs he'd put in his paper the first time had been little more than a joke, a way of illustrating a strange quirk that had struck him as funny. The fact that his thinking was clearer after he'd... performed a maintenance overhaul... seemed like as good a basis as any for a mathematical paper.  He was still laughing over the Mazieres and Kohler article, and that wasn't even actual maths.

That said, his paper _certainly_ wasn't going to be presented for publication anywhere. Not even for a joke.

Except now Simmons had read it. And she took it _seriously_. And in the span of a few days, that had lead him from absolute mortification to complete sexual satisfaction. He still wasn't too clear on _how_ that had happened. He was too hung up on enjoying the fact that it had.

Opening up his graphing software, he set to work on making things more official. He still had no intention of ever showing this paper to anyone else, but that didn't mean he'd slack off. Anything he and Simmons did together deserved his full effort.

Besides, he was definitely learning things.

 ---------------------

Jemma woke up the next morning happy and eager to tackle her day. She emailed Dr. Weaver to schedule their meeting and actually took a quick jog around the campus before having a shower and going to breakfast. Life was definitely good.

Once in the lab, she plugged her ipod into its little speaker and cued up her favourite playlist. She couldn't help bopping her head and shaking her hips to the beat while she measured out the chemicals for her experiment. She was still careful, however. One thing Jemma Simmons couldn't abide was sloppiness in the lab.

Even when she was shaking her booty.

She set up her batch distillation reflux and took out her homework. Sighing at her books, for once she didn't want to dive right in. Instead, she grabbed her phone.

She rolled her eyes and laughed. She almost wished she'd waited and told him in person.

For the research, of course.

\---------------------

Fitz turned off the football match he'd been watching. It was a rubbish game anyway, but Simmons had beaten his time on the concentration test, and he couldn't let that stand. She only did it that quickly because of him, anyway. If he hadn't...

His mind wandered back to _exactly_ what he'd done for her the previous evening.

It was still so unbelievable that it felt like a dream. He'd _made out_ with Simmons. For _hours_! He'd seen her _naked_   **and** he'd _touched_ her!! _And she'd wanted him to do it!!!_

What in bloody blue blazes was he doing watching the footie alone in his room then?

He grabbed his jacket and ran out of his room, pausing just long enough to tuck in his shirt.

\---------------------

"Fitz," Jemma greeted him with a slight smirk. She hadn't expected him to actually come to the lab to beat her time. She must have really gotten to him.

"Simmons," he greeted her back, trying to keep his voice level. He was regretting the shirt tuck because as soon as he took off his jacket, she'd be able to see the state he was in. In the pants region.

"Are you going to beat it?" she asked, moving over to the computer.

His mouth dropped open and he looked down. How could she see that through his jacket? "What, now?" he asked, rather shocked.

"That's what you came here for, isn't it?" she asked.

He shrugged awkwardly. Was he really that obvious? "Well... I mean..." he rubbed the back of his neck. "Not _just_ that."

"Well, take off your jacket and get started." She thought he looked nervous. He knows he can't beat my time. She gave him a slightly devilish smile, "Go on. I'll watch."

Fitz gulped hard. "You want to watch me? Really?" The pants situation was only getting bigger. Add that to the list of things he hadn't known about Simmons.

"Definitely," she answered with feeling, her whole face lighting up with glee. Standing up, she stepped aside and motioned for him to take her seat at the monitor. "Go right ahead."

He gave her a slightly apprehensive look as he slowly made his way towards the chair. He was almost there when he saw what was on the screen. It stopped him short. "Wait," he put up a hand in the international gesture for stop and replayed their conversation in his head. "Shit." He closed his eyes and groaned.

"What?" Jemma asked wondering what excuse he was going to come up with for why he wouldn't be able to get a faster time.

Fitz took a deep breath and shrugged off his jacket. He kept his eyes closed as he blushed and waited for her to say something.

"Ohh," Jemma breathed softly once she realized what was going on. "Yes, we'll have to take care of that first."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Mazieres and Kohler paper mentioned by Fitz: http://www.scs.stanford.edu/~dm/home/papers/remove.pdf Read it, and be amazed.
> 
> Also, full disclosure: I had Jemma dancing in the lab because I was listening to Uptown Funk while writing this chapter.


	3. Hide and Cheeks

Fitz swallowed nervously. "We will?" He felt a fluttering in his stomach that had nothing to do with the burrito he'd had for lunch.

"Of course we will!" Jemma insisted. "I want this to be an even match-up." So that he wouldn't have a leg to stand on when she still came out on top.

"Right," Fitz agreed distractedly. "So, how did you want to take care of this?" There was no answer he could think of that wasn't good.

"Actually..." Simmons looked over at her reflux distillation and bit her lip. She couldn't just leave it unmonitored. "I need to stay here," she pointed to the lab equipment. "For at least another 4 hours."

... Except that one. "Oh."

"But..." Jemma began, feeling a little unsure.

"But?" Fitz repeated, his voice filled with anticipation.

She flushed slightly but voiced her suggestion anyway. "Maybe you could..." she made a vague gesture, "... here?"

Fitz felt a surge of blood go directly into his cock. She really did want to watch. His voice cracked slightly as he said, " _Here_ , here?" Suddenly, every fantasy he'd ever had about having sex in the lab was running through his mind.

Simmons felt her heart rate increase when he didn't protest. She had a few lab-based fantasies of her own, after all. And they _were_ alone... A devilish grin spread across her face and she moved towards him slowly. "Uh huh," she undid the top button of her lab coat.

"Fuck yes," Fitz whispered, eyes focused intently on what her fingers were doing.

Jemma looked around as she finished undoing her coat, checking to make sure no one was coming in. The last thing she wanted was to be interrupted. "Put your lab coat on," she told him.

"Hmm?" Fitz asked, distracted by the fact that she was now working on the buttons of her blouse. "What?"

She picked up his lab coat from his workbench and pressed it into his hands. "In case we need to cover up quickly," she aimed a significant glance at the door.

God, she was clever. "Right." He hurriedly shrugged into his lab coat, still focusing his attention squarely on the way her shirt was now gaping open more and more. He felt like he should probably be doing something else, but watching Simmons undress was taking up most of his mental faculties.

"Did you want to..." she pointed to his fly, "... or should I?" The butterflies in her stomach started doing the macarena, and she started breathing quickly. This was Fitz, and this was the lab, and this was definitely breaking protocol, but for once, breaking the rules felt better than following them.

He drew in a shaky breath, not quite believing this was happening. "Y-you want to?" He raised his eyes from her cleavage to her face to make sure.

She took two steps to close the gap between them and, checking the door one more time, leaned in to kiss him. Her eyes closed as their lips met and parted, and she breathed a sigh into his mouth. They should have done this a long time ago.

Fitz moaned back and his hands slid in around her waist, pulling her against him. He tilted his head and deepened the kiss, wanting more.

Jemma untucked his shirt from his jeans, wondering if this change in style was due to her appreciation of his bum. Speaking of which... she reached around and gave it a good squeeze.

Fitz let out a squeak and his eyes opened wide as his hands gripped her waist a bit tighter. Simmons was just full of surprises today.

She smiled against his lips and then leaned back slightly to say, "Sorry. Couldn't resist," before moving her hands back to his jeans' button. She raised her eyebrows in a question.

Fitz nodded quickly and kissed her again. If she didn't hurry up, he'd have another mess in his trousers.

She unzipped his fly slowly, cupping his cock through the denim as she moved her hand down. The noises he was making were giving her such a rush of power.

"Oh god, Jemma," he groaned against her lips. "Take it out."

Instead, she moved her hands to his hips and slid them under his jeans and underwear. Once more, she move them around to his ass and gave it a squeeze.

"Ffffuuuuck," he whispered hoarsely, grinding his cock against her. "Please, Jemma?"

She moved her mouth from his lips to his ear, sucking gently on the lobe before asking, "Please what?" She kissed her way down his neck and then back up the other side. "Tell me what you want, Fitz."

Fitz's breathing was hard and fast now and his cock felt like it might burst. "I want you to touch my cock," he begged. "Please touch it, Jemma."

"Like this?" her hand slid back over his hip and into the front of his boxers, finally settling over the hardness inside.

He whimpered and nodded his head. His heart was beating so fast now that he was amazed he hadn't passed out.

Jemma's eyes widened suddenly and she let out a tiny shriek.

"Wha--" Fitz's brows knit in confusion.

She dropped down behind the lab bench and hid as the door to the room opened.

"Hey Fitz," Maddie greeted him from the hallway. "Have you seen Simmons? I thought she was in here today."

He tried to slow down his breathing and think of a good reply, but unfortunately all of the blood from his brain was otherwise occupied. He shrugged, "I, erm..."

Simmons whispered from her crouch, "Bathroom!" She mentally gave thanks for the solid wood between her body and the door. To say this would take some explaining was an understatement. 

"She might have gone to the toilets?"

"Ok, thanks. I'll try again later." She started to close the door. "You okay Fitz?" she asked, opening it up again. "You look kinda flushed."

Fitz jumped and tried not to swear as Simmons leaned forward and kissed the tip of his cock. "I'm fine," he replied in a strangled voice, eyes as big as saucers. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Just a bit warm in here is all," he gestured at the nearby Bunsen burner. He prayed to every god he could think of that she'd accept that answer because he was about 3 seconds away from coming and he didn't know how he'd cover that up.

"I hear that," Maddie replied with feeling. "Anyway, if you see Simmons will you tell her I'm looking for her?"

"Uh huh," he agreed, fists clenched at his sides as Simmons moved forward on his cock. As soon as the door clicked shut he let out the breath he'd been holding and looked down at his lab partner.

Jemma smiled up at him around his cock and that was it. His head fell back and his eyes closed as he felt himself begin to shoot. Nothing in his life to date had ever felt this good.


	4. Don't Forget the 43 Seconds

As Fitz's knees gave out and he collapsed onto the seat, Jemma reached for the paper towels. She wiped off her chin and chest and the few drops that landed on the floor and dropped the damp tissue in the biohazard bag.

"Really?" Fitz asked, still catching his breath.

She gave him the look she always gave him when she thought something should be obvious. "Of course, FItz. Standard spills procedure."

"Please tell me," he joked, "That you're not going to alert everyone in the area?" He tucked himself back into his pants and zipped up his jeans.

She blushed but maintained her composure. "Alright,  _slightly modified_ standard spills procedure." She rolled her eyes at him, but still grinned. 

Fitz took a moment to enjoy looking at her smiling at him with her blouse still open under her lab coat. 

"What?" she asked, looking down. "Did I miss a spot?"

"No," he answered with a slow shake of his head. He stared at her a moment longer, trying to memorize what she looked like right then. Then he chuckled as a thought occurred to him. "I just don't know what Maddie is going to think about your outfit."

"Maddie!" Jemma remembered with a start. "She's got my notes for Holographic Engineering, and we've got a test next week!" She hurriedly did up the buttons on her blouse and took off her lab coat. She took a second to smooth her hair back into a ponytail and then looked at Fitz. "Do I look alright?"

"I sort of preferred you before..." Fitz grinned at her. "But no, you don't look like you were just..." he coughed and rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to thinking of a word, any word, other than _blowing_. Or  _sucking_. "...Doing what you were just doing," he finished lamely.

Jemma smiled in relief. "Excellent! In that case, I'll be back momentarily." She leaned down to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Feel free to try the test again while I'm gone." There was no _way_ he was beating her time.

\-------------------

"What?"

...

"Are you kidding me!"

...

"Complete load of bollocks!"

...

"Stupid piece of utter shite!" Fitz pushed the mouse and keyboard away from himself in frustration just as Simmons re-entered the room.

"Everything alright Fitz?" she asked with false concern. It was everything she could do to keep the smug look off her face.

Oh god. She was going to be bloody unbearable about this, wasn't she? "Fine," he said shortly, crossing his arms.

"It didn't _sound_ fine," Jemma prodded.

Fitz glared at her for a moment and then motioned to the monitor. Might as well get this over with.

"Oh!" Jemma said, her voice absolutely dripping with sweetness. "Well done, Fitz!" She patted his curly head. "Good show!"

He glowered in his chair, refusing to give her the satisfaction of rising to her bait. "Thanks," he said through clenched teeth.

"No really," she added. "That's an excellent time you've posted."

He pressed his lips together and nodded. "Mmhmm."

"You did very nearly as well as I did!" she continued, enjoying herself immensely.

Fitz took a deep breath. That was enough of that. "Just _one_ tes--"

"--n't feel _badly_ \--"

"--indicator of any--"

"--simply a superior--"

"-- _eight minutes_ \--"

"--inary circumstan--"

"--without _my hel--_ "

"--just _fine_ on my--"

"--even write a bloody _sent_ \--"

"--an _excuse_ to--" Jemma stopped talking mid-sentence.

Fitz stopped short as well. "What?"

"Besides," she continued, pushing her shoulders back with a haughty expression, "How do you know you wouldn't do even worse in similar circumstances?"

He squinted at her for a moment, trying to figure out what she'd been about to say, but she just turned to her reflux setup and checked her notes. "I'd rather not find out," he finally replied.

"Well alright then," she said, still not looking at him. "Now, did you bring your designs for the delivery mechanism?"

"In my bag," Fitz said slowly. "Look," he reached out and touched her shoulder to turn her around. "I was just teasing about the eight minutes," he raised his eyebrows in apology.

She finally met his eyes and offered him an awkward smile. "I know," she said, "It's just so frightfully awful..."

"I reckon you're right, y'know," he admitted. "I'd probably be even more rubbish than you if I were in that state."

"Rubbish!" Jemma felt herself gearing up for another fight but calmed herself down again. "Sorry," she said softly.

"Me too," he opened his arms. "Still friends?" he offered in their usual tradition.

She stepped into them and hugged him tight. "Still _best_ friends." She closed her eyes and enjoyed the warm comfort of him for a moment.

He was just thinking about turning their hug into a kiss when Simmons stepped back.

"About that delivery mechanism..."

Fitz sighed and reached into his backpack. One thing he could always depend on with Simmons: things would never be boring.


	5. You're Lying If You Say You Wouldn't Do The Same Thing

Two hours and a lot of technical discussion later, Fitz was ready for a break.

"I'm starving," he groaned, rubbing his stomach. "How much longer are you going to be?"

"I told you already, Fitz," Jemma replied for what felt like the hundredth time. "This reflux won't be done until at least 6:30."

"But it's just gone 5:00!" He couldn't wait that long. He'd faint!

She looked up from where she was recording some data in a table. "So go eat," she said. "I can do my homework while I wait." She was already a week ahead in her readings, but she could give that essay on the SSR's treatment of female agents another once over. 

Fitz felt guilty about abandoning Simmons to the boredom of homework, but at the same time his stomach was rumbling something fierce. "Tell you what," he offered. "I'll go to the cafe and get myself a snack and then come back here."

"Are you sure?" 

"Yeah, of course," he grinned. "I know how much you hate homework."

Jemma grinned back, "Ha ha."

He grabbed his jacket and bag and headed for the door. "Fancy a cuppa?"

"Please and thank you."

"Back in a bit."

\----------------------

 He was almost at the cafe by the library when a voice called out from behind him.

"Hey, Fitz!"

He turned to see Celeste waving at him from the quad. She ran up and gave him a quick hug.

"Hey, Celeste," he greeted her. "How goes?"

"We missed you at the Boiler Room this weekend," she told him with a slight pout. "I thought we'd talked about you getting out more." She smiled at him, and he remembered what Simmons had told him the other night about Celeste flirting with him.

He tried not to blush as she fell into step with him. "Simmons and I, um, got busy," he explained. "Lost track of time. Seemed a bit late to go out by the time we were done."

She poked him in the ribs teasingly. "Too bad. It would have been fun," she winked.

Fitz held the door open for her to enter the cafe ahead of him, and she touched his arm as she passed. "Yeah. It's always a good time at the Boiler Room," he said. He was trying to remember if she was this touchy-feely with everyone. He was pretty sure she was. Simmons was just taking the piss.

"Well, maybe we can get a drink tomorrow night?" she asked, touching his arm again and smiling broadly at him. "I promised to show you life outside of the lab," she continued, looping her arm through his elbow. "And I'm a woman of my word."

He looked at their joined arms and then back to her face. Her cheeks were flushed and her pupils were dilated. He reevaluated his previous conclusion. "I'll, uh, I'll see what I can do," he stammered, feeling completely out of his depth. How long had this been going on, and he'd never even noticed?

"Great!" she said enthusiastically, squeezing his arm against her. "I'm meeting up with my group for our Quantum Electronics projects, so I've got to go." She released his arm and kissed his cheek. "But I'll see you tomorrow night? Don't forget!"

Fitz blinked as she ran out the door. What had just happened?

\----------------------

He walked slowly on his way back to the lab, looking at his interactions in a new light. He'd always assumed that women weren't interested in him, but it was starting to seem as if some _were_... and he was just too dense to notice it.

He pushed his way through the lab door, still lost in thought, and put Simmons' cup of tea on the desk beside her.

She grabbed it without looking up and took a sip. Just the way she liked it. "Ta, Fitz."

It was almost a shame that he'd come back so soon. She had just found a new file in the SHIELD archive that outlined Peggy Carter's first post-war mission into a combat zone. She really didn't want to stop reading right now, but it would be rude not to talk with Fitz when he'd been so nice as to wait for her for dinner. She looked up and noticed he had his thinking face on. Excellent. She smiled and returned to her reading, secure in the knowledge that he wouldn't be interrupting her until he'd worked his way through whatever he was puzzling out.

"Mmhmm," Fitz muttered in response, dropping down in his usual spot and pulling out his laptop. Between the events of the past few days and the conversation he'd just had with Celeste, he knew what he had to do.

\----------------------

By the time 6:45 rolled around, Simmons had added three more pages to her paper and was full of giddy excitement about everything she'd learned. "Alright Fitz," she said, putting away the last of her lab equipment. "Ready for dinner?"

Fitz looked up from his laptop where he'd been intently focused for more than an hour. "Hmm?" He blinked several times, trying to readjust to looking at something other than a screen. "Dinner?" He gave her a large smile as his eyes opened wide. "That sounds great," he said with a lilt to his voice that sounded almost sarcastic. His expression changed to one of pain. "That came out wrong," he apologized. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Dinner sounds great!" he said, and this time is seemed more enthusiastic than sardonic. He grabbed his bag and then picked up hers as well.

"Thanks," Jemma said, slightly confused. Since when did Fitz carry her bag for her. "So, what were you working on?" He'd been so quiet for so long, she'd almost forgotten he was there. That _never_ happened.

He put his hand on the small of her back to guide her through the lab door and turned to look at her while he spoke. "Just something I've been meaning to research for a while," he answered. "Nothing earth-shattering, though," he gave her another big smile.

She squinted at him slightly, trying to decipher what was wrong with him. "Want to talk it out?" she offered. They usually debated new ideas as a way to fully explore them.

"Not at all," he said as he guided her through the front door of the building with his hand at her waist again. "I want to hear what _you_ were reading about."

Again, he was looking right into her eyes. It was a bit disconcerting, actually. "Well, back in 1946..." she began.

Fitz tried to listen carefully while also doing all of the things he'd been reading about online. It was exhausting. How did people do this?

\----------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flirting advice from WikiHow because Fitz isn't the only one who can Google: http://www.wikihow.com/Flirt


	6. That Clears That Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay in posting, everybody! life got in the way

"... and that's how Peggy Carter recruited Angie Martinelli into the SSR," Jemma concluded as she tucked into her meal. She wasn't entirely sure what had possessed Fitz to suggest a restaurant instead of the cafeteria, but she wasn't going to complain. Especially since he'd (and this was the part that really shocked her) offered to pay for the both of them.

"Wait," Fitz requested, holding up a hand with a confused look on his face. "You're telling me that the Mistress of Disguise, Angie Martinelli, started off as a  _failed actress_?" He was so surprised, he forgot to keep smiling and maintaining eye contact. "There's a whole  _course_ about her techniques and achievements in the Ops program!"

"I  _know_!" Jemma leaned forward excitedly. "Why can't Professor Vaughn teach us  _that_ instead of droning on about about the type of concrete used to build the first bunker base?" She shook her head. "Honestly, the things some instructors prioritize..."

"I wish _you_ could teach History of SHIELD," Fitz sighed. "Then I'd have a shot at actually _learning_ something." He chuckled, "Not to mention staying awake."

Jemma laughed in return. "You'd be willing to give up your afternoon nap?"

"Good point," he pursed his lips in thought. "I guess sticking with Vaughn has its advantages."

"Indeed." She took another bite of food and chewed thoughtfully for a moment. "So what were you working so quietly on, back at the lab?" she asked. "I haven't seen you that focused in a long time." Not to mention the fact that she hadn't seen him behaving that oddly since... ever.

He blushed and choked on his dinner, coughing and spluttering for a moment. Jemma just raised her eyebrows and tried to gauge whether he'd need a medical intervention. Finally, he rasped a deep breath. "Nothing?" he said, not quite meeting her eyes. Well done, Fitz. Very convincing.

Jemma narrowed her eyes. "Really?" she asked, drawing out the vowels in order to suffuse them with as much sarcasm as possible. 

Fitz looked down at his plate, "Mmhmm." He then spent an inordinate amount of time cutting his chicken into bite size pieces. When he couldn't avoid it anymore, he looked up to see her still regarding him with the no-nonsense look she reserved for when he was lying to her. How did she always  _know_? "Hatoo fla," he mumbled. Times like these, he wished he was old enough to order a drink in this country. 

"How to... what?" she asked, brows knit in concentration. Fla... Fle... Flux? Fluoresce? Phlebotomize?

"Flirt," he said again with a big sigh.

She couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her throat. "Is  _that_ what you were doing?" she asked, incredulous. The rictus in place of his usual smile. The overly-engaged eye contact. The loud peals of pseudo-laughter any time she'd said something remotely amusing. "Wow."

He buried his face in his hands. "I know!" he moaned. "I'm complete rubbish!"

"You are, a _bit_ ," she said, not unkindly. Reaching out, she gently pried his hands from his face. "But you needn't worry about that, for my sake." She smiled warmly at him. He could be such a sweetheart.

"I'm  _not,_ " he groaned. Then, seeing the surprise on her face, he backpedaled. "I mean, I know you don't really mind."

"Of course I don't," she confirmed. "I'd much rather have an intelligent conversation with someone than flirt with him."

"It's just..." he hesitated. "Well, you and Celeste and everyone else seems to know  _how_ , and I don't!"

"Does that really ma-- Celeste?" she asked, mid-sentence. 

"Yeah?" He now looked worried for a different reason.

Jemma's stomach suddenly twisted slightly and she no longer felt hungry. "You want to flirt with Celeste?" Perhaps she shouldn't have mentioned her trying to pick him up the other night. 

"Ye-- I mean, No!" Fitz blurted miserably. "I don't know!" Why didn't Simmons know what he was thinking? She always knew what he was thinking. "She was flirting with me today, just like you said she was, and I didn't know what to do!" He gave her an imploring look. "What am I supposed to do when a girl flirts with me?"

She sat up a bit straighter and pushed her shoulders back. "Well, I suppose you either flirt back or you don't." She pushed her food around on her plate with her fork for moment before sliding her plate away from her. "It depends on whether or not you want the flirting to continue."

"I  _didn't_ flirt back," Fitz insisted, "but I think I've got a _date_ with her tomorrow night. How did that happen?" It made no sense.

Simmons bit the inside of her cheek and took a deep breath. "You must have shown her some kind of interest," she reasoned. 

"I swear I didn't! I was just being polite!" he was sounding truly desperate now. "I don't  _want_ to date Celeste! I want to date --" His eyes grew wide and he gulped. This was happening all wrong. He wasn't supposed to say this during an argument. He wasn't supposed to say this after they'd already... done things. He certainly wasn't supposed to say this after saying he had a date with someone else.

"Go on," she prodded softly. 

"... You," he whispered, looking down. The only girl he'd ever really felt comfortable with, and he'd buggered it up before they'd even really got started. 

Jemma pulled her plate towards herself again and picked up her fork. "Okay," she said matter-of-factly and started back in on her meal. 

"' _Okay_?'" Fitz asked, staring at her. 

She nodded. "I'm not dating anyone else at the moment, and I enjoy what we've been doing together," she explained. "And I'd rather be monogamous in those aspects of a relationship." Plus, if she were really being honest with herself, Fitz was the only truly interesting boy she'd met at the Academy thus far. 

Fitz blinked. "So..." he said slowly, "You want to be my..." he paused and squinted at her to make sure he was getting it right. "Girlfriend?" 

Simmons smiled back at him and nodded. "Yes, alright," she confirmed. 

"Really?"

" _Yes,_ Fitz!"

"You're sure?"

"If you ask me one more time, I'll change my mind."

He snapped his mouth shut firmly and turned back to his plate.

"One thing, though," she continued with a wry smile. 

"Yeah?"

"Don't forget to tell Celeste."


	7. Maybe He Should Have Texted?

Fitz took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. He'd never tried to break up with someone before, especially not someone he hadn't actually dated. Probably because he hadn't actually dated anyone before, either.

He still couldn't believe Simmons had said yes.

Well, alright, _technically_ she'd said "okay," but--

"Hello?" Celeste answered on the third ring.

"Hiii..." Fitz greeted her, trailing off and closing his eyes in pain. Thank God he wasn't trying to date her because that right there was reason enough for her to realize what an idiot he was.

"Calling me a few hours after we make a date?" Celeste teased. "You _are_ eager, aren't you?"

Fitz's eyes widened. She _liked_ that? "Um, I... uh..." What was he supposed to _say_? "I mean... erm..." He should have written out a script.

She tutted softly into the phone. "You're so cute when you're flustered."

He was indeed flustered now. "No, but ... I..." This was quite possibly the worst moment of his life. "You..." Why couldn't he think of a single _verb_? "We..."

"We what?" she asked with a flirty lilt to her voice.

Fitz cast around wildly trying to think of how to say what he needed to say. "No... date... I..." No date. That was good. He was negating their date. Alright. This could work.

Celeste laughed on the other end of the line. "You mean it _is_ a date?" she asked, sounding breathy and excited. "I wasn't sure."

Oh God. This was some sort of nightmare, wasn't it? "I... wha..? Umm..." he looked around desperately, fingers tugging their way through his hair.

"Hopefully you'll be a bit more talkative tomorrow," she laughed.

"No!" he protested. "I ... you... I can't..." Yes. Getting there! C'mon!

"Don't worry, Fitz," she reassured him. "I can talk enough for the both of us."

"But..."

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said happily. "Good night!"

Fitz stared down at the phone in his hand.

"That was... rather _astonishingly_ bad," Simmons said from her perch on his bed.

"I know," he said miserably. "I told you it wouldn't go well."

"Yes, but there's 'it won't go well' and then there's _that_ ," she pointed out. "How on _earth_ did you make the date with her to begin with?"

"I didn't!" he defended himself. "She made the date with me!" He had been very much out of the loop on the whole thing until after it had been established.

 Jemma shook her head and sighed. It had been like watching herself try to lie. "Alright, here's what we'll do," she suggested, passing him his notebook. "We'll write it out as a script, and you'll just read it off." 

"So you're giving me break up homework?"

"Essentially."

"Just checking."

\-------------------

"Are you _sure_ I have to do this?" Fitz asked for the third time.

Simmons crossed her arms and stood her ground. "I'm not going to date someone who's dating someone else," she said firmly. "I told you that I prefer monogamy."

"Yeah, but," he shrugged helplessly. "I could just... not go tomorrow?" Then he wouldn't have to use words.

"You did _not_ just suggest that!" Jemma gasped, horrified. "How _could_ you, Fitz?"

"Well, she'd understand then and--"

"And _nothing!_ That's a terrible thing to do to a person!"

"--like I _want_ to--"

"--ding someone up is just--"

"--n't get the words out--"

"--only _polite_ to--"

"--scared of what she--"

"--bsolute _coward_ would--"

"--understand why you--"

"--alone waiting for--"

"--not that big a deal."

"--a very big deal."

"Really?" Fitz asked, surprised by how much they disagreed.

"Really." Simmons answered, just as surprised. "Think of how you'd feel if you had a date scheduled with someone you had a crush on, and you were really excited about it, and that person just didn't know up. And you were left there alone. While a whole room full of strangers pitied you." She bit her lip and pulled a textbook onto her lap.

"Simmons?" Fitz asked carefully. She really did seem upset.

She blinked a few times and pasted a smile onto her face. "What?" she asked, looking up at him.

Fitz looked at her, taking in the slightly pink colour of her eyes and the way the corner of her lip wobbled. "Did that..." he couldn't believe he was asking this. "Did that... ever... happen to you?"

"It's years ago now," she said breezily, waving her right hand as if to shoo away the memory. She looked back to her textbook again, pursing her lips together tightly.

"Who would stand _you_ up?" Fitz asked incredulously.

She kept staring her book, trying to focus on the words on the page. "Who would stand up Celeste?" she asked pointedly.

Fitz's chest felt tight as he watched Simmons sat there trying not to cry. He pretended he didn't notice because she obviously didn't want him to see, but he couldn't help feeling like an utter piece of shite for making her feel like that. He picked up his notebook and reached for his phone.

"Hi, Celeste?" he said when the girl picked up. "It's Fitz again."

"Hey, you're talking this time!" she said cheerfully.

"Look, I'm sorry about before, but I was trying to clear something up, and I had no idea how to say it."

"Oh?" she sounded less cheerful now.

"So I've written it down now, and I'm just reading it off. Sorry I had to do it this way."

"Oh." she had definitely realized where this was going.

"I think you're a great person and a lot of fun to be around, but I only just noticed today that you were flirting with me."

"Just today?" she was astounded.

"And I only noticed because Si-Jemma pointed it out to me."

"Oh." This time there was a sigh.

"After we'd... gotten together." That was probably the safest way to describe what had happened.

"Oh."

"So if you still want to hang out as friends tomorrow, that'd be great. But it can't be a date because I'm dating Simmons. Jemma. Jemma Simmons." Damnit. He'd been doing well there until the end.

"Yeah," she answered quietly. "Alright."

"Really? You're not mad?"

"Just disappointed, I guess."

He heard a small sniffle on the other end of the phone and felt like a jackass. "I'm buying."

She let out a wet laugh, "You bet your ass you are."

"See you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow."

He hung up the phone and turned to see Simmons standing right in front of him. "Sorry I was being such a tosser," he said.

"Don't do it again," she said and the look on her face was terrifying. Then she softened. "And thank you for calling her back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to fancast Kim So Eun as Celeste because she's adorable.


	8. Next Round is on Celeste

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The only knowledge I have of the SAT is from watching American tv shows and movies. Also the brief google images search I did to pull that sample question. Please don't hate me for being Canadian! :) Also, they only did the verbal half of the test.

"Seriously?" Fitz asked, giving Simmons a rather skeptical look.

"Yes," she answered.

"Can I ask why?"

She blushed a light pink. "When I was..." she cleared her throat delicately. " _Having difficulties_ the other day," she continued, "I noticed that I had a particularly difficult time finding the correct words to use when I was writing up my findings."

He chuckled briefly. "I'd noticed that," he said dryly. "The line about '[insert tool here]' was particularly eloquent."

"Oh hush," Jemma swatted him lightly on the shoulder. She really regretted showing that to him. " _Anyway,_ that made me think that we should incorporate some sort of vocabulary-based test to our results."

"And you thought an SAT would be appropriate?" he raised an eyebrow.

She shrugged. "It's a test that neither of us have had to do before, and it tests academic vocabulary that we wouldn't ordinarily use in conversation."

"Alright," he shrugged in turn. "Set me up."

Jemma pointed at the screen. "It's all ready for you."

Fitz blinked at the screen. "I see what you mean," he said with some surprise. "And they expect American high school students to do well on this?"

"Apparently," Simmons replied.

He pushed up the sleeves of his cardigan and put his serious face on. "Right."

\-------------------

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Oh, thank you _very_ much!"

"I just mean... statistically speaking..."

" _Statistically speaking_ , I got 720 and you got 680."

"Well, yes, but..."

"But what?" Fitz cupped a hand behind his ear as if to help him hear her better.

Jemma narrowed her eyes at her best friend and crossed her arms over her chest. "You had an orgasm yesterday in the lab, and I haven't had one since the night before," she pointed out. "According to your own theory, that could explain the difference in our scores."

"Certainly," he smiled beatifically at her. "And I'd be more than happy to provide you with another orgasm before you try the test again," he waggled his eyebrows suggestively. As amazing as it had been to touch her the other night, he'd been dying to do it again ever since. They'd made out briefly last night after he'd finished straightening things out with Celeste, but then Simmons had decided that homework was more important than sex.

Homework! More important than sex! She really was mad, wasn't she?

She couldn't help but laugh at his expression. "I'm holding you to that," she said, tugging on the front of his shirt to bring him closer for a kiss. Her eyes closed as their lips met and moved against each other.

"I'd rather you hold me to something else," Fitz whispered and kissed her neck, pressing himself against her.

Jemma swallowed hard and dragged her fingers through his curls. It looked like she was creating a sex monster of her own. "After," she sighed, trying to get her breathing under control.

"After?" he stopped teasing her neck and looked at her, confused. "After what?"'

"You're supposed to meet Celeste, remember?" she reminded him, pushing him away and straightening her clothing reflexively. "At the Boiler Room? For drinks?"

He closed his eyes with a sigh. "Bollocks." He started counting primes in his head to ... calm down. _2, 5, 7, 11, 13_... By the time he got to 389, he was presentable again. When he opened his eyes, Simmons was looking at him in sympathy.

"Periodic table?" she asked.

"Prime numbers," he answered.

\-------------------

Celeste was at the bar with Jamie and a few other cadets when Fitz arrived. They were all gathered around Jamie's latest version of his data collection helicraft, obviously debating the current design. He ordered a beer, and she looked up upon hearing his distinctive accent. She seemed to be trying not to laugh, and Fitz had a sudden desire to check that he wasn't still ... embarrassing himself.

"Fitz!" she waved him over, still smiling in a way that made him uncomfortable.

He paid for his drink and moved slowly around the bar to join the group. "Hi," he said cautiously, wondering why she was so happy. Hadn't he broken their date? Was it that much of a relief?

"Hey," Jamie shouted enthusiastically over the music. "Come tell these people how wrong they are, will you?" He grabbed the tablet with his schematics from Marcus and pushed it towards Fitz.

He looked at Celeste, not sure of the protocol here. He was supposed to be here with her, not with ... everyone. "Um," he began, not entirely sure what to say.

"Yeah, Fitz," she smiled, saving him. "Tell us how wrong we are." She winked at him, confusing him further.

"Alright," he accepted the tablet, still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He looked up to a group of grinning cadets.

"I was starting to wonder how obvious I was going to have to get," Celeste laughed and hugged him while he stood there frozen.

"But..." What was happening?

"Is it really true?" Jamie asked. "Because I'm not paying up until you say it's actually happening."

Fitz nodded, still not sure what was going on.

"Just to clarify," Marcus put in. "You and Simmons are a thing now, right?"

"Yeah?" Fitz asked. He then watched as Marcus, Jamie, Oliver, and Wendel all handed Celeste some cash. "Wait a minute," he demanded, temper starting to flair. "You _bet_ on me and Simmons?"

Jamie shrugged. "Seemed as good a way as any to get you two crazy kids together." When Fitz didn't seem to be calming down at all, he explained further. "She jumped on you _in your bed_ , dude. And nothing happened?" He shook his head, remembering all of the things he'd heard through his wall... none of them romantic. "If that didn't call for an intervention, I don't know what did."

"So you..." he looked at Celeste, still processing.

She gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry, cutie, but the flirting was totally for Simmons' benefit." She reached out and patted his bum. "Not that I wouldn't totally hit that if she weren't in the picture."

Fitz sat down heavily on a vacant bar stool and upended his bottle down his throat. He was definitely going to need another drink. At least.

 


	9. You Had to be Expecting This

"Simmons!" Fitz shouted, pounding on her door. "Simmons, open up!" He'd tried entering her door code, but it wasn't working for some reason. It was also really fuzzy and seemed to be swimming slightly. Obviously, there was a fault. He'd have to take a look at it later. But first, " _Simmons!_ "

Jemma tied her robe around herself securely and opened up her door, annoyed that he hadn't just come in as he usually did. "What are-- Oh my god." Her expression changed from cross to horrified as she took in his rumpled clothes and the reek of alcohol on his breath. His left arm was propped on her door frame, and he was leaning forward in clear danger of toppling over completely. "What _happened_?"

"Met Celeste for a drink," Fitz explained, gesturing widely with his right hand and slipping slightly against the doorway. "Whoops!" he straightened up slightly and leaned further towards her. "She touched my _bum_ ," he whispered, not at all quietly.

"Uh huh," Jemma replied distractedly, arms held out in preparation for catching him. "This seems like more than _one_ drink to me." It smelled more like he'd fallen into a distillery.

"Not like you, though," Fitz continued, pushing her arms out of the way and tripping past her into her room. "S'always so _clean,"_ he said, spinning in an unsteady circle on her carpet. "How'd you _do_ that?" He turned and looked at her with an expression of complete befuddlement.

Jemma closed her door and tried to weave her way along the thread of his conversation. "Mostly I just put things away after I use them," she stated simply. "What's not like me?"

He nodded largely, throwing his balance off so that he took a few steps back to regain it. That, of course, made him run into the corner of her bed which caught him in the back of his knees. He sat down heavily, but managed not to fall off. "You're _so smart_ ," he said expansively. Then, noticing that he was now sitting down instead of standing up, he looked at her proudly and motioned from where he'd been standing to his new location. "I meant to do that."

"Well done," she said sarcastically. Drunk Fitz was hilarious when she was drunk, too. Drunk Fitz when she was sober, though? She sighed. "Let me get you some water." She moved past him to get a glass, but he caught hold of her hand and pulled her towards him. "Wha--"

"Don't want water," Fitz said, pulling her all the way down onto his lap. He nuzzled her neck. "You said 'after' remember?"

Jemma blushed as his teeth nipped at her throat. He'd certainly discovered how much she enjoyed that. "Yes," she said, trying not to moan. "But that was when you were only going for a drink." She bit her lip and tried not to get distracted. "I didn't think you'd come back in this state."

He pulled on her robe's belt to loosen it and slid one hand inside to rest on her hip. "What state?" he asked, kissing along her collarbone now.

She took a deep breath as her eyes rolled back in pleasure. This was so wrong. "You're drunk," she said, stating the obvious. "And you need to stop," she pushed his chest slightly. Anything they did together, she wanted him to remember it.

"Tot'ly legless," he admitted, pouting and removing his hand from inside her robe. "S'not the only state I'm in though," he nodded to his lap where she was still sitting.

"Fair enough," she said as she stood up. She'd have to be as drunk as he was not to notice _that_ state that he was in. Still... "But I can't very well help you out with that while you're in this condition," she said firmly.

"Sure you can!" he retorted, seeing her firmly and raising it to emphatically. "It'll be _brilliant!"_

He looked so eager that she couldn't help laughing. "Tell you what," she said, leaning down to give him a chaste kiss. "If you drink _all_ the water I give you, _and_ if you sleep quietly for the _whole night_ ,  _and_ if you go to your classes tomorrow despite the absolutely massive hangover you've got in store if you don't do the first two things..." He was nodding along with everything she was saying, and it was just so adorable. She pursed her lips, making a decision. "If you do _all_ of that," she continued. "Then, when you're feeling yourself again, we can have sex."

Fitz's jaw dropped and he stared at her like she'd just explained that the Yang-Mills Gap was due to quantum overeating. "Sex?" he asked, not quite comprehending. "You mean, like,  _sex_?"

She laughed at his expression. "Yes, Fitz," she explained slowly. "Sex, as in _sex_."

"But..." he wanted to get complete confirmation on this point. "I mean, like," and here he used a particularly expressive gesture. " ** _Sex_**?"

She rolled her eyes and laughed again. " _Yes_ , Fitz," she reiterated.

"Best day _ever_ ," he whispered to himself, still at quite a loud volume.

Simmons put on her best teacher face and brought him back to the present. "But what do you have to do first?"

Fitz frowned as he struggled to remember. "Sex?"

"No," she said patiently. "Drink all the...?"

"Water!"

"Yes, and...?"

"And...?" he looked around the room for hints and the dizziness caused him to fall back on the bed. "Sleep!" he said, a triumphant finger pointing up towards the ceiling.

"Very good, Fitz!" she encouraged. "And one more...?"

"Um..."

"What do you need to do tomorrow?"

"Um... breakfast?"

"After breakfast."

"Sex?"

"Before sex."

"..."

"First water, then sleep, then...?"

"Class?"

"Yes!"

"And then sex?"

"Yes," she laughed. "And then sex."

"Brilliant."

"Now just hold on while I get you some water," she told him, leaving the room with a glass in hand.

"Mmhmm," he mumbled from the bed.

By the time she returned, he was snoring happily.

She looked down on him fondly and shook her head. He was going to have a _massive_ hangover in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yang-Mills Mass Gap explained: http://www.claymath.org/millenium-problems/yang%E2%80%93mills-and-mass-gap  
> no promises that that will make my joke actually funny, though ;)


	10. The Morning After the Night Before

Jemma struggled out of sleep. She'd been having a nightmare about being trapped in the trash compactor from Star Wars. Aware as she was now that it was a dream, she couldn't escape the feeling of being crushed. There was a heavy feeling across her chest that was making it hard to breathe, and try as she might she couldn't move.

She was just about to start panicking when she noticed how hot she felt. And how  _fragrant_ her room was. She pried open one eye and was greeted with the drooling form of her best friend, lab partner, and (most-recently) romantic interest sprawled on top of her. Well, that explained her inability to move. 

This wasn't the first time the two of them had shared a bed. There were any number of nights when they'd stayed up too late working or studying and had crashed on his mattress or hers until the morning. The difference there was, they were both sober at the time. Apparently, a drunken Fitz did not have the same awareness of personal space that a sober one had.

This wasn't even cuddling. Cuddling would have been cute. It would have been enjoyable. It would have been a nice way to wake up in the morning, despite the sour smell on his breath. 

She  _really_ hoped he'd made it to the bathroom before vomiting. 

No, this wasn't cuddling. This was Fitz lying full-length on top of her, trapping her against the mattress and making it nigh on impossible for her to leave without causing him bodily harm. 

She took as deep a breath as she was able to with the full weight of a grown Scotsman on her chest and heaved with all the leverage she could muster. 

Apparently, she could muster quite a bit because she heaved him right over onto the floor.

Fitz exploded out of sleep. He wasn't sure what he'd been dreaming about beyond it being warm and comfortable and utterly relaxing. Basically, the exact opposite of what life had suddenly turned into.

" **Bloody he--** " he started to shout. "Ohhh,' he groaned as his own voice pierced his brain like an ice pick through jello. He curled up into a foetal ball on the floor by the bed and covered his ears with his hands. Mere seconds before he'd been warm and happy, and now he was shivering on the hard floor and wishing he was dead. Where was the justice in that?

"Fitz?" Simmons asked carefully, leaning over the side of her bed and looking at the sad heap on her floor.

"Shh..." he whispered hoarsely, holding out one of his hands as a physical shield against the sound of her voice. "Please," he croaked, "Quiet."

Wavering between concern and amusement, Jemma modulated her voice to a softer volume. "Are you okay?" she paused for half a beat, considering. "Aside from the hangover, I mean."

Fitz whimpered slightly. This wasn't just a hangover. This was the wrath of every god he'd never believed in. It was the punishment for everything he'd ever done wrong in his life.  It was Toby Maguire dancing in Spiderman 3. His stomach heaved, and he looked around for Simmons' waste basket. Unfortunately, it seemed he'd already used it the night before. "Oh god, Jemma," he moaned, rolling over onto his back. "Kill me."

Jemma decided that hydration was preferable to murder and got out of bed to fetch the glass of water he hadn't drunk the night before. "Drink this," she said brusquely. If he'd listened to her last night, he wouldn't be in this mess this morning. But she wasn't going to say 'I told you so.'

He opened one eye carefully, shielding it against the dimness of the room, but even that much light caused another scythe of pain to slice through his skull. Groaning as quietly as possible and keeping his other eye shut, he reached up to grab the bedframe and use it to pull himself into a sitting position. As soon as he was upright, he closed his eye again. The room was spinning enough without him seeing it turn. He shifted around on his bum until he was able to sit with his back against the bed. It was reassuringly solid and didn't seem to be spinning at all. After taking a few deep, steadying breaths he opened his eye again and reached out for the glass. "Cheers," he murmured before taking a careful sip and closing his eyes again.

Simmons puttered around the room picking out her clothes for the day and putting them on. It was a credit to how poorly Fitz was feeling that he didn't even notice her changing right in front of him. Once she was ready, she turned to the pathetic lump formerly known as Fitz and sized him up. She sighed. The poor thing looked truly miserable.

"I'm heading to breakfast," she announced. "And by the looks of things, you won't be joining me. Did you want me to bring you back something?"

Fitz peered up at her from under his mostly-closed lashes. "You're dressed," he observed. Another thought was trying to make itself heard over the marching band that had currently taken up residence somewhere behind his right eye, but he ignored it.

"Well spotted," Jemma said dryly. "Breakfast?"

That thought made another attempt to get his attention but remained drowned out by the elephant stampede making its way through his brain pan. "No," he shook his head firmly. He instantly regretted that life choice as the room started swimming again. "Oh god," he gulped, swallowing hard to keep his stomach contents in his stomach.

"Please don't vomit on my floor," Simmons asked politely.

"Right," he rasped, nodding much more gently this time.

She couldn't help but take pity on him as he sat there looking such a mess. "Look," she offered. "Why don't you go back to bed and rest up. I'll go to class and let you borrow my notes. Okay?"

Fitz frowned as that niggling thought waved and shouted over the explosions going off between his ears. "Class?" he asked.

"It _is_ Tuesday," Simmons answered.

"Class... and _breakfast_..." he concentrated with all of the brain power he could muster. "... and _... water?_ " He almost had it. He was so close he could almost _touch_ it. His eyes widened despite the pain that caused him. "Simmons?" he asked, barely able to breathe.

"Yeah Fitz?"

"Did we have sex last night?"


	11. Breakfast of Champions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay. I was reeling from the season 2B premiere. ALL OF THE FEELINGS!

Fitz slowly pulled himself up off the floor and onto Simmons' bed. She'd made _abundantly_ clear the _myriad_ of reasons why their having sex last night would have been impossible, and then she'd left for breakfast. For his part, he was just glad the yelling had stopped. She'd insisted that she was talking at a normal volume, but there was no way she wasn't using some sort of megaphone. He groaned and buried his face in her pillow. It smelled nice.

\--------------------

Jemma waited impatiently in the mess hall lineup, mumbling to herself about how stupid Fitz could be when he was ailing. He'd thought she would take advantage of him in that state! Of course, it seemed he had sort of a jumbled memory of her sitting on his lap and them talking about sex. But he wouldn't have been able to perform anyway, given his alcohol intake! And he'd looked so confused and disappointed when he'd asked her, she just wanted to reassure him that he hadn't missed it. But honestly! As if she would engage in any type of sexual act with someone so obviously intoxicated! But he'd apologized (quietly for the sake of his headache) so sweetly, and he really did look absolutely pathetic there on her floor. Still, it was his own fault he felt like that - no one had forced him to drink so much!

Her internal debate still raging even as she looked for a place to sit, she didn't notice that she was standing next to Celeste until the girl invited her to sit down.

"Oh!" she said, feeling slightly awkward. "Thank you, yes." She took the seat opposite her and arranged her food the way she liked it on her tray.

"So," Celeste said with an intake of breath. "You and Fitz huh?" She concentrated on making sure the cream cheese was uniformly spread across her bagel.

Jemma blushed and focused her attention on pouring the precise amount of milk on her cereal to ensure the flakes were damp without getting soggy. "Yes," she replied. "Me and, well... Fitz." Her hand shook slightly and the milk sloshed into her bowl. Damn.

"We were starting to think you two would _never_ get together," Celeste chuckled dryly. She stirred some sugar into her coffee mug, the spoon hitting the sides with a chime.

Jemma crunched a spoonful of cereal from the top of the bowl. She really didn't want to explain how it had happened. "I suppose it _was_ rather... unexpected," she said. That was nice and vague.

"Definitely," Celeste agreed. "So when did the happy event occur?" she took quite a large bite of her bagel and looked at her companion with interest.

Jemma swallowed another spoonful of cereal and took a sip of tea to moisten her dry mouth. "Just this past weekend, actually," she said with brittle cheer. "Fitz didn't tell you?"

"Nope," Celeste replied, taking a sip of coffee and putting her cup down on the table with a clink. "We just celebrated the fact that it happened," she said with a smile.

"You certainly did," Jemma said feeling.

"Well," Celeste said expansively. "News like _that_ , everyone wanted to buy him a drink!" She smiled again. "Like I said, no one thought it would ever happen."

"Ladies!" Jamie announced, swooping up to their table and putting a hand on each of their shoulders. "Doing a debrief are you? Let me join you!" he grabbed half of Celeste's bagel and Jemma's glass of orange juice and sat down in an empty chair.

"Hi Jamie."

"Hey James."

He made a face at Celeste. "James is a boring guy in a tailored suit. I'm Jamie, _cool science dude_."

Celeste rolled her eyes. "You do know, right, that calling yourself a 'cool science dude' makes you neither cool nor a dude?"

He waved her off. "So have you decided what kind of gift Simmons is going to give you yet?"

"Gift?"

"Shut up, Jamie."

"For getting you and Fitz together," he continued, reaching for a piece of Celeste's bacon and getting his hand slapped for his trouble. He turned to Jemma. "By getting you all jealous so you'd make a move," he explained.

Jemma's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You _planned_ that?" she asked.

Celeste shrugged. "You weren't getting the job done on your own," she said, "so someone had to light a fire under your ass." She smacked Jamie's reaching hand again. "Figured it might as well be me, y'know?"

Jemma smiled at her, a bit hesitantly. "Then I suppose I _do_ owe you a gift," she said.

"Just invite me to the wedding," Celeste smiled back. She stood up and picked up her tray. "I've got to get to class. See y'around Simmons."

"Um yes," Jemma nodded. "See you around." She watched the other woman depart, thinking carefully.

"You gonna finish that?" Jamie asked, pointing at her soggy cereal.

"All yours," she said distractedly, pushing the bowl across to him.

\--------------------

 Fitz woke up again at around 2pm. He was famished and thirsty and his mouth tasted like something had crawled into his throat and died, but at least he no longer wanted to die. He got up and straightened the coverlet on Simmons' bed then put on his shoes and jacket. He _really_ needed to shower, brush his teeth, and change out of these rancid clothes. He looked back at Simmons' bed again. He should probably wash those sheets, too. If they stunk even a fraction as badly as he did, they were not something Simmons would want to sleep in that night. He turned to do just that, but the movement stirred up the air around him and he got another whiff of himself. First things first: shower.

His stomach grumbled loudly.

With maybe just a quick stop at the vending machines along the way.


	12. The Way to a Woman's Heart is Through Science

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> big ups to Madalayna for helping me find the right words - without her, this chapter would probably be up 3 hours later. Or more.

Jemma carefully labelled the last vial QNB-T13 and placed it in the tray for secure storage. On a theoretical level, at least, she'd been able to reduce the effectiveness of possible counter -reagents without negatively impacting its effectiveness. Still, she wouldn't know for sure until it was put through a round of testing. She had discussed with with Dr. Weaver that afternoon, and both women were hopeful that a trial could be conducted as soon as the end of term. She smiled to herself as she locked the vials in the refrigerator. She couldn't _wait_ to start her analysis.

She was already mentally structuring the clinical trial when her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out, surprised by the time it showed. How had it gotten to be past 8pm already? Time just flew by when she was working in the lab.

"Give me 5 minutes..." she texted back. She packed up her bag, gave one last look around the lab to make sure she'd put everything in its proper place, and put on her jacket. She couldn't wait to tell Fitz about the progress she'd made. Trials by the end of term! She practically ran back to her room.

When she got there, her room was in a very different state from how she'd left it. She blinked, taking it all in, and then looked at the presumable culprit who was standing off to the side with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders pulled up to his ears.

Fitz looked at Jemma with an expression that was both hopeful and sheepish. He hadn't really been planning on doing all of this, but... Washing the sheets had lead to making the bed. Then he'd thought about buying her dinner to apologize. And that had made him think that he'd rather eat with her alone than in a noisy restaurant again. So he'd brought in a table and chairs from the common room. But that had looked silly, so he'd folded one of his sheets to be a tablecloth. And then borrowed some candles. But with the lights off, it was too dark to see the plates or each other, so he'd hung up some fairy lights. And when he'd gone to pick up the take away there'd been a flower cart right outside and...

He really hoped she'd say something soon because he sort of wanted to melt into the carpet.

"Sorry I couldn't get any wine," he apologized, looking down at his feet, "but, y'know, Am--"

Jemma dropped her bag on the floor with a loud thunk and walked across the room to him with purpose in every stride. "Oh Fitz," she breathed, a little hitch in her throat. "You darling," she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, "Wonderful," kiss, "Thoughtful," kiss, "Roman--"

This time, he interrupted her. His arms tightened around her back and pulled her close against his chest as his lips pressed against hers. His eyes closed as their mouths opened, tongues touching as lips moved against each other.

Jemma stood up on her toes a bit, tightening her arms around his neck. She just wanted to get closer to him, to deepen their kiss even more. She gasped as their lips parted briefly, only to moan again as their kiss continued. She burrowed her fingers into his hair and leaned into him until he had to step back against the wall.

Fitz brought one hand up to cup her face while his other arm moved around her waist to keep her tight against him. As their kiss continued, his hand tangled in her hair and it felt like silk.

Eventually they broke apart enough to catch their breath, chests heaving and eyes half-closed.

Fitz cleared his throat and whispered hoarsely, "So you like it then?" He smiled with a cockiness she was used to seeing in the lab, not her bedroom.

"Uh huh," Jemma nodded, biting her lower lip as she smiled back.

"And I'm forgiven for last night?" he asked, cockiness wavering slightly as he tried to read her face.

"Mmhmm," she nodded again, kissing him softly on the lips.

" _And_ this morning?" he asked, his breathing getting shaky as she kissed along his jawline to his neck.

"Mmhmmmmm,"she nodded once more, sucking gently on his earlobe.

"I guess I didn't have to do that then," he chuckled, pointing to a box on one of the chairs. He'd wrapped it carefully and even added a ribbon.

Jemma's face lit up with surprise as she turned to look. "Fitz!" she said tenderly. "You didn't have to get me anything!" That said, she still rushed over and ripped the paper off.

Opening the box, she gave him the biggest smile he had ever seen and his whole chest swelled with pride. "You like it?"

"Like it?" she asked incredulously as she held up the delivery mechanism he'd been working on for her QNB-T13. "Fitz, it's perfect!" She cradled it gently in her hands, stroking the shiny surface softly. Suddenly, she remembered what she'd been wanting to tell him when she'd walked in. "And so is your timing!" She motioned for him to sit down.

He started serving them dinner from the takeout boxes. "Oh yeah?" he asked, interested despite the distraction of how lovely she looked in the candlelight.

She hesitated as she looked at him past the flowers and candles on the table. "I'll tell you after," she said, putting his device back in its box and placing it on the floor. "First, I want to know how you managed all of this!" her gesture included  everything from his gift to the room to the meal in front of them. "Last I saw, you could barely get yourself into bed." She gave him another huge smile and enjoyed his blush.

Work could wait. She was on a _date._


	13. Always With the Butt Jokes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> introductory joke stolen from http://xkcd.com/1233/  
> if you want to understand it fully, go here: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1233:_Relativity
> 
> Science jokes, man. They ain't easy. Sometimes you've just got to borrow from the professionals.

"It's commonly believed that Lorentz contraction makes objects appear flatter along the direction of travel," Fitz said, snorting slightly. "However, this ignores light travel times."

Jemma smirked back, just barely containing herself. "So, a fast-moving butt would appear rotated toward the observer but not substantially distorted."

"Exactly," Fitz confirmed, pressing his lips together and swallowing hard.

"Huh," Jemma squeaked as she tried valiantly to keep a straight face. "So Shakira got it right."

They both held it together for a fraction of a second longer before collapsing in a fit of giggles as _Hips Don't Lie_ continued playing in the background.

Jemma tried desperately to stop laughing in order to catch her breath, but every time she looked over at Fitz, his red face and tear-filled eyes set her off again. Her abdominal muscles were _aching_ , but she just couldn't seem to control the paroxysms of laughter from overtaking her. Even holding her breath didn't work because she'd just manage to get her mouth closed when they'd make eye contact and another laugh would burst out through her mouth.

Fitz, for his part, kept trying to get words out and not succeeding. Every time he opened his mouth to say it, he was overcome with guffaws. He held onto his sides and bent at the waist, attempting to relieve some of the pain in his stomach. He leaned over so far, in fact, that he fell right out of his chair and onto the floor.

This sent Jemma into another fit of uncontrollable giggles, and she started hiccuping as she watched him struggle to get up and fail. Taking a series of shallow breaths, she slowly managed to ask, "Are... you... o... kay?" before snorting loudly and collapsing again, following him in his path to the carpet.

Fitz buried his head in his arms as he lay on the floor, panting. "It's a..." he started, choking slightly and then catching his breath. "It's a..." he gulped. "A..." he swallowed hard and then, in a voice made high by the fact that he was holding his breath he finally managed, " _Gedankedank_ experiment!"

That sent both of them into further peals of laughter, tears streaming down their faces. Jemma rolled from her back onto her side in an effort to lessen the cramping in her stomach at the same time that Fitz rolled from his stomach onto his side to make breathing a bit easier. They ended up facing each other, surprised at how close they were.

Jemma gulped down a hiccup as she stared into his eyes. She'd always known they were blue, but she hadn't realized just how blue they were until just now. Somewhere in the region of her stomach, a kaleidoscope of butterflies took wing.

For his part, Fitz had never noticed how her eyes were really more bronze or copper than they were brown. Suddenly, he was having a hard time breathing for an entirely different reason. His laughter trailed off and he licked his lips. Reaching out a hand, he cupped her cheek and moved forward.

Jemma closed her eyes and leaned in, too.

Their lips met, softly at first and then Fitz pulled her closer, his hand moving from her cheek into her hair. He marveled again at how soft it felt. 

Jemma steadied herself with a hand on his chest and felt his heart pounding through her fingers. She had to admit, hers was probably doing the same thing. She moaned as he slid his tongue past her lips.

Encouraged by the noise, Fitz moved his other hand first to her waist, then to her hip. As their kiss deepened, it slid even further to cup her bum. Despite the past week, this still felt like a risk, but she didn't seem bothered by it at all. In fact, it just made her moan louder. Taking that as a good sign, he gripped her bottom firmly and leaned backwards until he was lying on the floor and she was lying on top of him.

Jemma broke their kiss then to look down at him in wonder. " _Well then_ ," she said with a smile. It seemed as though someone was feeling more confident about things.

"Alright?" he asked, eyebrows raised and hand loosening its grip.

She shifted around slightly until her legs were positioned on either side of his hips. "Alright," she confirmed, leaning down to kiss him again. Her pelvis started moving in circles against him, and she smiled against his lips as she heard him groan.

Fitz's hand tightened once more on the soft flesh beneath it and he lifted his hips to press up against her. The heat of her felt incredible against his hardness and he wanted to feel more.

Jemma's eyes closed once more at the feeling of him moving against her. She moved to a sitting position on top of him and timed her circles to coincide with his thrusts. They both gasped and moaned at the sensation.

Fitz stared up at Simmons, enjoying the flush on her cheeks and the way her hair was sort of all over the place. Prim and proper Jemma Simmons was _snogging_ him in the most delightfully improper way. He gripped her hips in both his hands and thrust up against her even harder. The way her eyes widened in response was extremely satisfying.

"Fitz?" she asked, reaching down to the hem of her sweater to pull it up over her head.

"Simmons?" he replied, grinning and taking in the view.

"Get your cute little butt over to my bed, _right now_."

His grin widened. "Yes _ma'am_."


	14. Meditations on Refraction

Twenty-four hours later, Jemma sat at her laptop revelling in the wealth of information their monitoring device had managed to capture. 

 

Fitz’s modifications to her original design had not only miniaturized the device but also increased its data tracking abilities. It was heaven for a statistics nerd such as herself. With a broad grin on her face, she darted a look at her partner before she set about matching up the data to the “activities” they had engaged in. She was attempting to see whether it was more than just orgasm that lead to clarified mental processes. There was a certain amount of literature investigating the link between physical exercise and information processing and cognition, but it was inconsistent due to a lack of a theoretical basis for the parametric approach. She hoped to circumvent that issue with their paper.  

For his part, Fitz kept his head down and tried to concentrate on his typing instead of Simmons' pleased smile. It was an effort to keep a smile from his own face - an effort he was failing at abysmally. He was completely unable to stop blushing for more than 5 minutes at a time. There was also the added difficulty of his nethers seeming to have a mind of their own. It had been happening with increasing frequency ever since that first time he and Simmons had... enjoyed each other's company, but now... It was like he was 14 years old again.

Jemma looked at him again out of the corner of her eye and suppressed a blush of her own. She'd never previously noticed any temperature irregularities in her room, but it was feeling decidedly warm in there today. Perhaps the cardigan she'd put on that morning was a bit much. She unbuttoned it and slid it off her shoulders, draping it over the back of her desk chair. That was much better.

Fitz looked up at her movement and watched with interest as her sweater was removed. It felt strangely intimate to see Jemma in just a vest rather than her usual jumper or jacket. Considering he'd seen her in much less, he was surprised to find himself once more standing at attention, even while sitting cross-legged on her bed. And there he went, thinking about her bed again. Which of course lead him to remembering how she'd told him to get into it the night before. 

\---------------------

"Get your cute little butt over to my bed, right now," Jemma ordered him in a playful voice. That proud, cocky look on his face when he'd made her moan was adorably irresistible... and she realized happily that she didn't _need_ to resist him. 

Fitz's self-satisfied grin widened across his face. "Yes ma'am," he agreed, holding out his hand for her to pull him up from the floor. He bounced up on his toes and then caught her around the waist and lifted her feet off the floor to kiss her. 

Jemma squealed in mild alarm before laughing and wrapping her arms around his neck to kiss him back. "Fitz!" she gasped in delight. "What are you doing?" She wiggled her feet in the air, wondering what had gotten into him.

"What?" he asked, still smiling at her like she was the best thing since eggs on toast. "I'm not allowed to sweep you off your feet?" he chuckled.

She looked around the room again. "I'm pretty sure you already have!" she laughed back. 

"Really?" he asked, genuinely surprised. He set her back down again and looked around the room as well. If that's all it took to sweep a girl off her feet, he was surprised he hadn't managed it before.

She gave him a gentle swat on the shoulder. "Of  _course_ re--"

"--n't do much--"

"-- _nner_ and the _ligh_ \--'

"--just some flow--"

"-- _ble_ and  _candles_ \--"

"--n't take long to--"

"--so  _thoughtful_ and--"

"--ake you happy," he shrugged.

"--me so  _happy_ ," she kissed him on the cheek. 

He blushed and looked down, running a hand along the back of his neck. "Well then." He coughed and looked up at her with his face still downcast. "Good," he smiled shyly.

Jemma bit her lip as she grinned back. "Now will you _please_ get your bum in my bed already?"

His eyebrows rose in mock surprise as his head tilted back up to look at her full-on. " _Someone's_ impatient," he observed. Reaching out a hand, he looped his finger in her belt loop and pulled her against him.

She moved her own hand to reach around and grope the aforementioned backside. She pressed her body along the length of his and whispered back archly, " _Someone's_ not the only one."

Fitz took a shallow breath and tried to calm down. This was happening. This was really happening. Sex with Simmons. _Sex_. With _Simmons_! He closed his eyes and kissed her deeply, his lips opening slightly to capture hers before letting them go and capturing them again.

Her breathing came in little gasps and moans as one hand continued to massage Fitz's bottom and the other tangled itself in his hair. She played her own game of capture and caught his lip lightly between her teeth before letting it go again.

Then their tongues were meeting each other in the intimate dance of passion. Every kiss was getting more desperate than the last. They each pullled the other as close as they possibly could, but it still wasn't close enough.

Fitz took half a step back but leaned forward to maintain the kiss. With the space now open between them, he started frantically unbuttoning his shirt. Jemma's fingers soon took over for him, and then they pushed it off his shoulders and down his arms.

They pressed tight together again and it was so much better with his naked chest held tight against her bra-clad one.

Jemma reached back to unhook her bra at the same time Fitz slipped the straps down her shoulders. He wanted to watch her undress for him, but he couldn't stop kissing her long enough to do so. He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to stop kissing her again.

This time when they moved together, Jemma's hardened nipples pressed against Fitz's flat chest. Every breath they took was another note in the building crescendo between them.

Jemma moaned into the best kiss she'd ever had and whimpered every time their lips parted for longer than a fraction of a second. Fitz's hands were roaming all over her body now, exploring every inch of her exposed skin. His fingers left a trail of tingling sensations everywhere they passed, and she wanted nothing more than to feel them move lower. Moving her hips just far enough back to accomplish the task, she unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans.

Fitz heard the telltale sound and didn't wait for her to finish the job herself. He slid his hands down her ribs to her hips and pushed down both her jeans and her panties at the same time.

Jemma gripped his hair in both of her hands as he moved lower to keep removing her clothes. As much as she wanted to be naked, she wasn't done kissing him yet. She bent down with him as his hands moved her jeans down past her thighs and knees, and then she stepped out of them. On the way back up to standing, she popped the button on Fitz's jeans and unzipped his fly as well.

Fitz's hands were now gripping whole new swaths of flesh, and he wasn't planning on stopping any time soon. He felt dizzy and light-headed, but considering the circumstances that seemed that a normal reaction. Still squeezing her ass with one hand, he moved the other up to squeeze her breast and tweak her nipple. He still couldn't get over how _fantastic_ breasts felt.

Jemma pushed his jeans and boxers down, uncovering his ass. She gave it another quick caress before tugging at the front of his boxers to release his trapped cock. The way his hands were stroking her was making her lose her breath completely. Wrapping her hand around his cock, she started to jerk it in time with his massaging of her breast.

Fitz's breath quickly changed from panting to shuddering gasps as his body spasmed against her. Then, he stopped breathing entirely for a moment, stopped caressing her body, stopped kissing her beautiful lips, stopped thinking.

And then his lungs started working again. And so did his brain.

"Oh _God_ , Jemma!" he gasped, embarrassed.

For her part, Jemma was disappointed that he'd stopped kissing her but hadn't let that stop her from kissing and nuzzling his neck. Her right hand was now considerably stickier than it had been a moment before and her boyfriend was quite red in the face, but other than that her night was going very well indeed.

"Mmmm, Fitz" she whispered into his ear.

 His horrorified face turned into one of confusion. "Um," he started, not quite sure what to say. "Jemma?"

"Mmhmmm?" she asked, moving to kiss the other side of his neck.

"I've sort of..." he let the sentence hang there, waiting for the completion he had just achieved.

"I know," she whispered before kissing him again. When he didn't kiss her back, she looked at him with concern. "Fitz?"

His eyes were closed and a look of almost pain was on his face. "I can't believe it happened _again_ ," he whispered, dragging a hand along his face.

"Fitz," Jemma repeated, this time with quite a firm tone to her voice.

"Yeah?" he sighed, defeat in his voice.

"Do you have a particularly long refractory period?"

"What?"

"Because it seems to me," she looked pointedly down between their bodies, "that it shouldn't be too long of a wait."

"You mean, you still...?"

"I still if you still..."

"I _definitely_ still!"

"Well alright then," she grinned. "Now _about_ getting your arse actually _into_ my bed..."


	15. Better Than Expected?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they gonna frick, just fyi

Fitz looked at the bed and then over at Jemma then back at the bed again. Was he supposed to sit down? Lie down? On top of the covers or under them? On top of _her_ or... He took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck to calm his nerves. "So... should I just...?" he gestured vaguely to the piece of furniture that seemed to be growing gradually larger in his field of vision. What was the etiquette here?

Jemma smiled warmly, understanding his confusion perfectly. Her own first time had been a jumbling swirl of not knowing what to do or when to do it or whether she was doing it correctly. "Here," she offered. "Let me turn the blankets down." She untucked the sheets and duvet from where they'd been neatly tucked under the mattress, carefully folding them back to open the bed for him.

"G-good idea," Fitz swallowed, grabbing the extra blanket from the end of the bed and holding it. He'd meant to put it down somewhere, but now he couldn't remember where. Instead, he clutched it in his fists and focused on remembering to breathe.

Jemma turned towards him and noticed the blanket. "Oh, thanks for that," she said, an appreciative smile on her face. "You can just put it on my desk chair, if you like," she said, pointing at it.

Fitz didn't move, except for his eyes which darted slightly.

"Fitz?" she asked, brows wrinkling in concern.

His hands tightened on the blanket and his face twisted with embarrassment.

She reached out a hand to touch his arm and gave him a sympathetic look. "It's okay, Fitz. We don't have to--"

"I'm naked!" he burst out suddenly.

Jemma smiled. "I know," she teased. "I'm the one who took your clothes off, remember?"

"Well, yes..." Fitz agreed, still not letting go of the blanket.

"And I'm naked too," she offered in solidarity.

"I'd _definitely_ noticed that," Fitz said with enthusiasm.

"And I saw your penis the other day in the lab," she continued, assuming that was the problem. "You've nothing to be ashamed of there."

"Really?" he grinned, feeling pretty chuffed about that one.

"Really," she took another half step closer and closed her hands over his. She stood on her toes to kiss him. "So, are you ready to put the blanket down?" she asked gently.

Fitz looked uncomfortable again. "It's just..." he started, looking down his own body.

"Just what?" she asked. She hoped she wasn't pressuring him into something he wasn't ready for. She was about to ask when he answered her.

He gave her a wry smile. "I'm going to be utter shite at it, aren't I?" It was almost a relief to admit it out loud.

Jemma smiled at him, not unkindly. "Honestly? There's every possibility."

He had to laugh at that. He always _could_ trust Simmons to give it to him straight. "Is it weird that you saying that makes me feel _better_?"

She laughed back. "Well, good," she kissed him again. "I mean, remember your first go at kissing, right?"

"Oh god," he brought one hand up to cover his face. "I was _just_ starting to block it out."

" _Now_ remember the kissing we were just doing," she moved the last few inches between them and pressed her body against his again, pushing the hand with the blanket still in it out of her way. Her hands slid up his chest to loop around his neck.

Fitz nodded as he leaned down to press his lips against hers again. His eyes closed as their mouths opened against each other and her tongue touched his. He sucked on it for a moment before tilting his head further and deepening their kiss. His right hand squeezed her waist and his left hand dropped the blanket in order to weave into her silky hair. After another moment or two, he broke the kiss. "So you're saying I'll get better?" he grinned.

"Much better," she grinned back. "Much _much_ better."

"Well then," his eyes glinted devilishly, and he lifted her up again. "We'd best get started, hadn't we?"

Jemma's eyes glinted back with just as much excitement. " _Definitely_!" she said, enthusiastically wrapping her legs around his waist.

Fitz's smile immediately turned into an 'O' of horror as he felt himself lose his balance. "Fuck!" he cursed, his arms gripping tight to her backside as his legs tried to compensate for the shift in his centre of gravity.

Jemma's face mirrored his alarm. She probably should have warned him before doing that. "Sorry!" she apologised, her mouth and brows both curving downward in dismay. She started to lower her legs again, but he stopped her.

Fitz shifted his grip to under her thighs and widened his stance. "S'okay," he said, trying not to let the strain show on his face. He could do this. It was all just physics. Well, and _physiques_. He let out a breathy chuckle at his own joke, but he didn't share it because he needed to conserve his breath right now.

"Are you sure?" Jemma asked, taking in the intense focus on his face.  She really didn't want him to injure himself. Especially not just now.

"Mmhmm," Fitz replied, slowly taking the three or four steps necessary to get over to her bed. Once there, he turned and sat down on it with her on his lap. His face lit up with pride. "See? Nothing to it," he told her.

"Very James Bond," she told him, laughing and kissing him again. He was just so very kissable.

He laughed back. "Aw, I was going for Captain America," he joked.

Her face softened and her eyes radiated with sincerity when she whispered back. "You're always Steve Rogers to me."

He blinked and his heart swelled. He knew how she felt about Steve Rogers. "Jemma... I..." he didn't know what to say. What _did_ you say when a girl called you a hero? He kissed her instead, putting everything he felt into his lips and hoping she understood.

Jemma reached out blindly and grabbed the box from the shelf above her bed. Thankfully, she'd prepared ahead. She gasped as their lips parted. "Here," she said, handing him a condom and looking down between them where it was quite clear that Fitz's refractory period was complete.

Fitz stared at the wrapper for a moment as an internal battle waged. "Um," he said, taking a deep breath and putting on a self-deprecating expression. "So, remember how I haven't done this before?" he gestured between them.

Jemma nodded for a second and then the nodding slowed down as she realized what he was saying. Her eyebrows raised slightly and her mouth opened, "Ah," she said in understanding. "You haven't done this before either?" she pointed at the condom.

Fitz shrugged with a sheepish grin. "Bright side?" he suggested, "You like teaching me stuff?"

Jemma laughed and rolled her eyes affectionately. "How about I just do it this time and save the teaching for a less... critical moment?" She carefully opened the wrapper and checked which way the condom unrolled.

Fitz swallowed with his suddenly dry mouth as he watched her methodically place the condom on the head of his penis and then hold the top of it with one hand and roll it all the way down with the other. It was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen. And he'd been seeing a lot of amazing things lately. "Wow," he whispered hoarsely.

Jemma grinned with the same smile she used when she got 100% on a test. She shifted around him and lay on her back on the bed. "So, do you want to try it?" she asked, feeling the butterflies in her stomach start fluttering again.

He nodded slowly, licking his lips and still feeling unsure of the particulars of _how..._

She opened her arms. "C'mere," she smiled reassuringly.

He shifted around and lay lengthwise alone the very edge of her bed. Taking a deep breath, he rolled towards her and put one arm on the other side of her. "Like this?" he asked, his face a question mark as he looked down at her and his hips still off to her side.

"That's perfect," she said, moving her legs to create a space for him between them. "Keep going." The butterflies in her stomach were getting bigger and the anticipation was making her whole body hum.

He rolled over the rest of the way, lifting himself over her leg to settle himself between her hips. He could feel heat radiating from her body and felt his cock twitch in response. He closed his eyes and muttered, "Remember the kissing," to himself under his breath. 

She caught him under the chin with her finger and lifted his face up to look at her. As he looked down at her, she saw his face gradually relax its tension and look more like the confident Fitz she knew so well. "Hallo Fitz," she whispered with a small smile.

"Hallo Simmons," he whispered back, returning her smile. They were still FitzSimmons, just in a new way. His hips moved against her as he tried to find the way inside.

She wiggled around slightly, lifting her legs up and out to wrap lightly around his waist. She tilted her pelvis up as he tilted his down. Almost...

He pulled his hips back just slightly and then pushed them forward again. _There_. This time when he pushed forward he felt himself slide into that heat he'd felt before. He closed his eyes and lost himself in the sensation of having her wrapped around him.

Jemma closed her eyes and concentrated on that wonderful feeling of fullness. That first, slow thrust was always her favourite. She wrapped her legs tighter around Fitz's hips and dug her nails lightly into his shoulders, moaning into his ear. 

He pushed as deep as he could inside her before pulling most of the way back out and plunging back in again and again. He gasped at both the sensation and the effort. He harder he pushed the better it felt, and judging from the noises Jemma was making, that was true for both of them. 

She raised her hips to meet each of his thrusts and trailed her fingers down his back to grab his ass. She gasped and moaned every time their bodies came together, and she dug her nails into his flesh to pull him into her even further. 

"Fuck, Jemma," Fitz cursed, groaning at the feeling. If she kept that up, he was done for.

"Mmm yes," she whispered in his ear. " _Fuck Jemma_. Fuck her hard." She'd never said anything like that in bed before, but she found that she liked it.

"Oh _god_ ," he gasped, his thrusts gaining in speed.

She flexed her Kegel muscles, squeezing like a vice around him. "Are you going to cum for me Fitz?" she asked, surprising herself again.

"Oh god, _Jemma_ ," he moaned, giving her a last few thrusts as he emptied himself into her. When he was finished, he collapsed into a sweaty, panting heap on top of her.

She smiled affectionately at him for a moment, letting him catch his breath. Then, she slapped his butt with her open hand.

"Hey!" he protested, although not too strongly considering.

"Go clean yourself up, and then come back here and help me finish," she instructed him.

"Clean my...?"

She pointed to his no-longer turgid member. "Bin the condom and wash yourself off." She bit her lip and trailed her hands over her body. "And then come back here and do what you did to me the other night."

He shot out of the bed like he'd been fired from a canon and grabbed his boxers from the floor. "I'll be _right_ back," he assured her. "Don't move! Don't _think_ about moving! Just... _stay_!"

She laughed at his behind as he scooted out the door to the bathroom. A girl could get used to eagerness like that.


	16. Walk of Acclaim?

The door clicked shut behind Fitz as he looked both ways down the corridor. It was past midnight on a Wednesday, so he wasn't really expecting a run in. Still, he shuffled quietly down the hall to the bathroom as fast as he could.

"Fitz!" came Jamie's booming voice just as he was about to round the corner. "Where ya _been_ man? I haven't seen you since you were trying to drag your drunk self home the other night."

Fitz looked a bit like a deer caught in the headlights. "Hey Jamie," he said weakly. He started to wave, but then quickly put his hand behind his back, desperately wishing he'd thought to bin the condom when he was still in Simmons' room. "Just, y'know... around?" he answered vaguely. He shuffled from foot to foot not really looking at his friend.

Jamie gave him the side eye and took in his state of dishabille. "This is not our floor," he observed keenly.

"It's not?" Fitz asked innocently. He looked around, trying to appear surprised that he was in the wrong place.

Jamie's eyebrows lowered and his head moved back so that he could look down his nose at his neighbour. "This is not our _building,"_ he clarified.

"Wh-aat?" Fitz said in extremely unbelievable shock. He brought his hands up to his chest to further indicate surprise.

Jamie's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Duuuuuuuuuude!" he cheered, pointing to the obviously used condom peeking out between Fitz's fingers. "High five!" he lifted his hand to start the ritual.

Fitz reluctantly completed it, his shoulders sagging slightly in defeat. "Look," he said holding up his hand. "Don't..." When he realized it was the one with the condom in it, he lowered it and raised the other in its place. Jamie, meanwhile, was doing a spontaneous booty dance in the hallway. He sighed. "... do that."

For his part, Jamie was performing a series of hip thrusts complete with arm motions and bitten lower lip. "C'mon man, celebrate!" he clapped Fitz on the shoulder and then did a Michael Jackson crotch grab and stood on his toes. "You got _laid_!"

Fitz buried his face in his free hand and clenched the other one by his side. "Can you just... keep it down please?"

"That's what _she_ said! Hey-oh!" Jamie laughed, once more requesting a high five. When it wasn't reciprocated, he looked hurt. "Dude, be _happy_ , man! Who knew this day would ever come?" He paused for a second, realized what he'd said, and gave himself a rimshot. "Ba-dum PSH!"

"Shh!" Fitz whispered with some urgency. " _The day's not over yet_ ," he said through clenched teeth with a significant glance at Simmons' door.

Jamie spun to look behind him. "She's waiting on you for more," another hip thrust. "Awesome!"

"Yeah," Fitz agreed with some annoyance in his voice. "It would be, if I weren't stuck out here in my underthings having the conversation that would never end!"

"Eesh," Jamie put his hands up in defence. "Just trying to congratulate you..."

"Yes. Thank you. Well done. I'm congratulated." Fitz took a deep breath and tried to muster up as much dignity as he could in the circumstances. "Now if you'll _excuse me_." He turned stiffly and continued on his way to the bathrooms.

Jamie mimicked him behind his back and then shook his head. You try to be nice to someone... He shrugged and continued on to his own destination.

\---------------------

Jemma lay in her bed wondering how long it could possibly take someone to walk down a hallway and have a quick wash. If Fitz didn't come back soon, she'd have to take care of things herself. Next time, she was going to go first. 

Her hands started wandering again as she closed her eyes and replayed events.

Fitz was becoming really a very good kisser. And while the sex had been brief, it hadn't been actually _bad._ She flexed her Kegel muscles again, remembering the feeling of him inside of her. Yes, it had definitely not been bad.

She looked to the door, willing Fitz to walk through it. Her breathing was speeding up again, and the tingling that had started when they were making out was increasing with a vengeance.

Closing her eyes again, she gave up on waiting and started stroking the places she new would cause the biggest tingles. She licked her lips and then bit the bottom one as her fingers found what they were looking for. Her Kegels squeezed again and she moaned at her emptiness.

"Fitz," she whispered quietly to herself as she tried to fill the void he'd left. "Oh god, _Fitz,"_ she gasped louder, her hips moving faster now.

The fingers of one hand gripped the pillow behind her head as the fingers of the other rubbed her clit more and more quickly. Her back was arching and her toes pointing and her whole world narrowed down to her single bed. She was so close now, she just needed...

She hesitated a minute as she remembered what she'd said before. It had been so... unladylike. Just thinking about it made her simultaneously blush and gasp.

Her fingers were a blur now and her face twisted in pleasurable anguish. "Oh, _fuck me Fitz_ ," she moaned. "Fuck me with your cock!" she was getting louder now. "I want your cock inside me, Fitz," she continued. "I want to ..." her sentence ended in a gasping, squeaking moan of satisfaction. "Ohhhh yessssss," she sighed as her finger slowed, her hips settled onto the mattress, and her hand unclenched from the sheets.

She'd really needed that.

Fitz stood just inside her door and stared at her, gobsmacked. Jemma Simmons had just brought herself off while thinking of _him_. He looked down at his freshly-washed cock as it stuck obscenely out of the front of his boxers. He'd already been pretty sure that this was the best day of his life, but now it was definite. Not only was this the best day of his life to date, he was fairly convinced it was the best day he'd ever have again, as well.

"That," he said, and she startled out of her post-orgasmic haze. "Was the _sexiest_ thing I've _ever_ seen in my _life_ ," he told her.

Jemma blushed a pinkish red. "You... heard that?" she asked, somewhat embarrassed.

"And saw it," he nodded, joining her on her bed. He placed a hand on her hip and ran it down to her thigh and then back up to capture her breast. "Sexiest," he said, giving her nipple a sucking kiss. "Thing," he continued, biting it gently. " _Ever_ ," he rolled his tongue around it and pursed it between his lips, pulling it up slightly.

"Oh yeah?" she asked breathily, curling her fingers in his hair and moving him to her other breast.

" _Definitely_ ," he answered firmly before giving her other nipple the same treatment he'd given the first.

"Mmm Fitz," she moaned as her body moved beneath his.

He kissed his way back to her other breast, enjoying himself immensely.

"Fitz," she gasped, her voice a little louder.

He slowly slid his hand down her ribs and over her hip until it found her wetness. She felt so good on his fingers.

"Fitz," she moaned, and she sounded more demanding now.

He pushed two fingers inside of her and started pumping them in and out.

"Fitz! Are you listening to me?" Jemma asked, waving a hand in front of his face. He'd been sitting there with a dazed look on his face for the better part of fifteen minutes. She was starting to get concerned.

"Hmm? What?" he asked, shaking his head slightly and blinking several times. "Oh!" he focused on her standing there in front of him in her vest and jeans. "Jemma!" he coughed. "I was just..."

"Just...?" she asked, reaching out with the intention of checking him for a fever.

He blushed but managed to keep looking her in the eyes. "Thinking about last night," he smiled shyly.

"Oh," she smiled shyly back. "Me too."


	17. A Banner Day

"Oh yeah?" Fitz's eyebrows rose hopefully. They'd been analysing data all evening - ever since they'd finished up their weekly lab. He was definitely up for some 'extra curricular activities.'

"Yes," Jemma replied excitedly. "Comparing the data from last night with the data collected from the other day in the lab and your own," she cleared her throat and then pressed on, " _individual_ efforts, I've noticed something interesting."

"What's that?" Fitz asked, intrigued in spite of himself. If Simmons was this excited about it, it must be significant.

"There's a marked increase in both heart rate and blood pressure when you're with me, as opposed to when you're on your own," she began.

"I coulda told you _that,_ " Fitz grinned. Comparing masturbation and sex was like comparing apples and aircraft carriers.

"That's not the interesting bit," Jemma continued, rolling her eyes in good-humoured exasperation. "The interesting bit is its subsequent effect on the cognitive testing results."

"Really?" Fitz asked, a bit surprised. There was actually a relevant finding from all of this?

"Yes!" Jemma's whole face lit up with the joy of discovery. "There's a statistically significant increase in scores for both of us after paired sexual activity as compared to solo events!" She was practically jumping up and down now. "Do you know what this _means_?" she asked.

"We should have more sex?" Fitz joked, putting his own laptop to the side so that he could take hers from her and look at the results for himself.

"That's a given," Jemma scoffed, waving one hand impatiently. She didn't notice the way Fitz's eyebrows shot into his hairline as she continued. "No, it _means_ that this is could be a valid course of research!" She started listing off further parameters they should study and the minimum number of subjects required for an accurate sample size, but Fitz wasn't listening to that.

His expression resembled that of someone who had just realized that the shellfish they'd eaten for lunch might not have been as fresh as it could have been. "You want to publish, don't you?" he asked weakly.

Jemma stopped mid-list. "Scientific discoveries ought to be shared, Fitz," she said matter-of-factly. "Why wouldn't we publish?"

"Because _we're_ the sample?" he asked with a tinge of disbelief.

"Well, obviously we'd have to run a much larger trial in order to see if the results are consistent amongst the general population, first," Jemma explained. "And we'd never get our experiment past the Ethics Board the way that it's currently set up, but..." a wistful look crossed her face. "Isn't it _brilliant_ the way we can think better because we've had sex?" The wistful look changed to a sultry one. "All the more reason to do it more often, right Fitz?"

Fitz gulped down his protestations in favour of nodding in agreement. "Definitely brilliant. Definitely more," he said eloquently.

"Alright!" Jemma clapped her hands together in front of her. "Let's get back to the lab!"

"But..."

"I can't work up the proper statistical models on my laptop, Fitz. I need the lab's processing power."

Fitz looked sullenly at the door. "What if it's still out there?" he asked, voice full of malice.

"Oh, c'mon Fitz," Jemma cajoled. "It's not that big a deal?"

" _Not that big a deal_?" he repeated derisively. He put her laptop next to his on the bed and stalked over to the door, wrenching it open forcefully. Hovering just outside the door was a painted bedsheet held up by two of Jamie's drone copters. "It's _literally_ a flying billboard congratulating us on having sex," he said, gesturing sharply at it. He tried once more to catch the sheet and pull it down, but as had been happening ever since breakfast, the drones' cameras and sensors saw him coming and directed them to fly out of his reach. He groaned in frustration.

"It's... sweet," Jemma said, unconvincingly. She hadn't been thrilled to have her private life advertised for the entire Academy to see, but they'd been following Fitz, not her, so she'd been able to hide from them somewhat. "He's excited for you!" she said with forced enthusiasm.

"He's an evil bastard seeking stone cold _revenge_ ," Fitz growled. This punishment was totally out of scale with 'leaving him hanging' the night before. He couldn't think of anything else he'd done that would prompt this level of prank.

"Let's just ignore them" Jemma suggested. "Maybe if you stop reacting to them, he'll get bored and call them off." She put on her jacket and offered Fitz his. " _Please_ Fitz?" she looked at him with her best puppy dog eyes.

Fitz resisted them for almost 4 complete seconds before finally releasing his held breath. "Fine!" he sighed, clearly feeling anything but. "But he'd better watch his back!" he ranted, grabbing his backpack and holding the door for Simmons. "He's woken the dragon!"

"Yes, Fitz," Jemma placated him, patting him on the arm. "I'm sure he's aware."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> by the way, Fitz's shirt says "root negative one, two-cubed, sigma, pi (i 8 sum pi) ... and it was delicious"


	18. Rocket Science and Nobel Prizes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I cited my sources at the end. Some things, you just can't make up.
> 
> Also, there's a NSFW graphic in this one, but it's an educational illustration, so maybe that's ok? I can always remove it if anyone needs me to

Jemma hummed happily to herself as she ran her statistical models on the lab computer. She and Fitz had each taken another battery of tests, and she was busy crunching the numbers while he'd gone back to his room to work on his homework. She loved working in the lab late at night. After 10pm, only the most serious or most desperate students were still there, so there was a real atmosphere of hard work and efficiency. 

There was nothing quite like multitasking to make her feel accomplished. At the moment, for example, she had one computer grinding away at the cognitive testing data she'd collected and another one rendering a chemical comparison of the latest version of her QNB serum, T13, to its previous iteration, T12. She was getting very excited by the progress she was making with each new test batch. She was still facing issues with the length of time the serum remained active, but each time new version was giving her more and more promising results. Soon, she would be right within the window of efficacy that Dr. Weaver had indicated was ideal. A few more adjustments, and she'd have the timing perfectly within the requested parameters.

\----------------------

Fitz sat on his bed and looked at his lap in consternation. This wasn't rocket science. He _knew_ rocket science. He was _good at_ rocket science. This was definitely something other than rocket science.

How was he so _bad_ at it?

Most guys his age were able to do this with their eyes closed!

Alright, more accurately speaking, they were able to do it in the dark. But still!

One more time, he picked up the infographic that Simmons had printed out for him. Really, this shouldn't be that hard.

That was another factor, actually. What _should_ be hard, wasn't. At least not especially so. Getting a hardon because Jemma wanted him to was fantastic, but not when she was on the other side of campus.

He grabbed his fourth condom and took a deep breath. He could do this. He looked at the infographic again.

\----------------------

Jemma was just noting down the salient points of the analysis when Maddie burst through the door, one arm full of files and the other one holding a huge chocolate bar. "Hey Jemma," she nodded, unable to give her usual huge wave in greeting because her hands were occupied. "Whatcha workin' on so late? QNB?" She grunted slightly as she dropped her files on the lab bench.

Jemma nodded. "I'm narrowing it down quite nicely, now," she smiled. "Thanks again for the advice on the intermediates. It's been invaluable!"

Maddie grinned and broke off a piece of chocolate for each of them. "So were your Holographic Engineering notes," she laughed. "Sorry I kept them so long!"

"Not to worry," Jemma reassured her, enjoying the sweet treat she'd been given. "What the occasion?" she asked, indicating the massive amount of chocolate that was a bit out of character for Maddie. "You're not usually one for sweets."

Maddie laughed and popped another bite into her mouth. "New article in the _New England Journal of Medicine_ ," she explained, arranging her files and logging into the computer. " 'Chocolate Consumption, Cognitive Function, and Nobel Laureates' if you'll believe it." She shook her head and rolled her eyes. " _Apparently,_ eating chocolate leads to Nobel prizes?" 

Jemma's face screamed skepticism. " _Really._ " If _that_ could get published, so could she.

"Yup," Maddie confirmed. "It's all over the Boiler Room. People are going _nuts._ " She broke off another piece and offered it.

"Who in their right mind," Jemma took the offered piece and chewed it angrily. "Would believe something like that?"

"Besides the _New England Journal of Medicine_ , you mean?" Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Pretty much anybody who wants an excuse to eat chocolate." She typed for a moment and brought up the article on your screen. "This, right here," she tapped a graphic, "Is the selling point."

Jemma walked over and blinked at the screen. "Are you telling me that no one out there has thought to mention the fact that _correlation does not equal causation?_ " She ate another piece of chocolate just because she was getting so mad.

"Don't even get me _started_ ," Maddie sighed in frustration. "About the only good thing is that Wendel went all Willy Wonka on me and gifted me this brick."

Jemma smiled and poked her friend in the ribs. "I keep tell you he has a crush on you!" she teased.

"Sure, you can tell me _that_ ," Maddie teased in return. "But you can't tell me that you hooked up with Fitz?" She gave her the type of disappointed look that parents give to children who have misbehaved for the first time. "I had to learn about it from a bed sheet!"

"I know!" Jemma blushed and apologized. "I'm sorry! It was all just so sudden!"

"That's what cell phones are for!" Maddie explained, less than patiently.

"I got distracted," Jemma explained very guiltily.

Maddie grinned at her. "I'll just _bet_ you did." She rubbed her hands together. "So, gimme the details! What's he packing?"

Jemma's mouth dropped open with shocked laughter. "You're horrible, you know that right?"

"I'm just kidding," Maddie rolled her eyes. She typed for a moment, sending the article in question to the printer. "... Unless you're willing to share?" she asked hopefully.

Jemma rolled her eyes and walked back to her own station to continue her analysis. "Buy me a coffee tomorrow and _maybe_ ," she said with a smile.

Maddie grinned back. "I'm holding you to that," she waggled her finger as she walked over to the printer. "Oh hey, is this yours?"

Jemma looked up from her computer and then her face transformed itself into one of horrified embarrassment. "Oh no," she whispered under her breath.

"Um, Jemma?" Maddie asked, looking at her friend with raised eyebrows. "You wanna talk to me about this at all?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> condom guide from a google image search (the site it comes from is apparently no longer around), but if you want to have fun while learning how to put on a condom, go here and just keep scrolling: http://www.durexcanada.com/explore-sex/play/put-it-on-right/
> 
> Actual article published in the New England Journal of Medicine: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMon1211064  
> but since it's behind a pay wall, you can get the gist (and the graphic) here: https://epianalysis.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/chocolate/


	19. Seems Fair

"... it's a bit of a long story," Jemma stammered slightly.

Maddie gave her a level look. "I'll just bet it is," she said with some curiosity. "Care to tell it?"

Jemma's jaw worked up and down a few times as she tried to figure out what to say. "... No?" she tried.

"Yeah, that answer doesn't really work for me," Maddie replied, waving the paper in her hand. "Boyfriends are not for experimenting on, Jemma!"

"I know, but..."

" _Bad_ scientist!"

\----------------

Fitz replaced the tile cover quietly and then checked his remote. Perfect.

He got into bed and lay down to wait.

\----------------

"-- huge breakthrough that must be shared!" Jemma was arguing.

" _Or,_ " Maddie argued back, "And I'm just putting this out there, _you could **not** publish a paper about your sex_ _life_!"

"It's hardly about my sex life," Jemma dismissed her. "It's about the ameliorative effects of--"

"Of Fitz's magic wang," Maddie concluded for her.

\----------------

Jamie keyed in his code and entered his room. Tonight had been a good night. He'd managed his mission without any run-ins, and he could still get... He looked over at the clock and sighed. Four hours of sleep before class.

He didn't even bother getting undressed. He just faceplanted onto his bed. He fell asleep almost immediately.

\----------------

"It would be wrong of me to keep this information to myself," Jemma tried again. "The scientific community deserves to know."

"The scientific community can figure it out for themselves," Maddie said, not giving up. "What does _Fitz_ think about this whole publishing thing?"

"He agrees with me," Jemma said, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

" _Really_?" Maddie asked, drawing out the vowel in skepticism. "Are you sure? Or are you just assuming?"

"I don't _assume!_ " Jemma said, shocked at the suggestion. "I am a _scientist!_ "

"Yeah, well," Maddie replied. "You're also a pig-headed teenager with occasional tunnel vision." She put up her hands to try to soften her words. "I mean, I love you Jemma, but when you get an idea in your head..." She shook her head from side to side with a slightly woeful look on her face. "You kind of just run with it and drag everyone else along for the ride."

"First of all," Jemma pulled herself up to her full height, somehow managing to look taller. "I'm _twenty_."

Maddie smirked. " _That's_ the part that pisses you off?"

" _Second of all_ ," she continued, umbrage still plain on her face. "I am _enthusiastic_ , not pig-headed."

"You say poh-tay-to..."

" _And_ ," Jemma plowed through with determination. "Fitz is not just 'along for the ride'," she finger quoted. "It was his idea to begin with!"

\----------------

Fitz put on his heat-vision goggles and rubbed his hands together. This was going to be great.

He carefully worked the controls on his remote, toggling the goggles off in order to read the tracking screen for his device. Just a little more...

Now for the tricky part. He squinted and pursed his lips in concentration as his robot carefully lifted the ceiling tile out of the way.

\----------------

"Look," Maddie said, willing to call a truce. "Just... talk to Fitz about it, please?"

"But I already--"

" _Again_?"She requested. "And really _listen_ to him this time?"

"I _always_ \--"

"Please?"

Jemma crossed her arms and sighed. "Fine." She pointed an angry finger at her friend. "But you can buy your own coffee tomorrow!"

"Fair," Maddie said with a smile, opening her arms for a hug.

Jemma hesitated before giver her a perfunctory embrace. "And I'm taking the rest of your chocolate."

"I can buy more."

\----------------

The quiet stillness of the night was disturbed by the dulcet screams of Jamie being unceremoniously drenched in ice water from above.

" _ **MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!**_ "

He flailed off of his bed and onto the floor, both his body and his mattress completely soaked. From his new location, he was able to see the lights and vague shape of a robot he knew poking through a sudden hole in his ceiling.

" _ **FITZ!**_ " he shouted through the wall.

"You wake the dragon," came the calm reply, "You're gonna get burned."


	20. Awkwardness Abounds

Fitz sat in History of SHIELD class attempting to take notes in order to stay awake. He stifled a yawn and doodled a quick sketch of a mini radio transceiver in the margin of his notebook. How Vaughn could possibly make the SSR takedown of Leviathan boring was beyond him, and yet...

A soft chuckle from two rows behind him caught his attention, and he turned to see Jamie snickering and typing on his laptop. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but his classmate wasn't looking at him. He seemed to be focused on Dr. Vaughn, of all things. Since when was Vaughn someone you could laugh at. At least,  in the sense of his being funny?

Fitz frowned and faced forward again, sitting up a bit straighter in his chair. He scanned the front of the room, and then he saw it. One of Jamie's spiderbots was crawling down the leg of Vaughn's chair and then scuttling across the floor to hide behind the bin. What was _that_ about?

"... your textbooks and turn to page 394," Dr. Vaughn droned, moving back to his lectern from the board. The class did so at varying speeds, and Vaughn used the pause to sit down at his desk.

A loud, flatulent braaaap cut through the shuffling of papers. It continued much longer that one would think was gastronomically possible, and every student in the room slowly stopped turning their pages in order to turn their faces to their instructor in horror. Dr. Vaughn, for his part, sat stony-faced and immobile as the sound gradually petered out. A few last notes sang throughout the room, and then there was silence.

The only sound was a fly droning quietly somewhere near the window. No one dared move.

Slowly and deliberately, Dr. Vaughn stood up from his chair. He turned rather stiffly and delicately removed something from his seat. Holding it up in two fingers, he turned once more to the class.

" _Leopold_ ," he said in a tone that clanged like a hammer on an anvil. "I believe you've misplaced this?"

He held up a blue whoopee cushion emblazoned with a white cross and the words 'For Scotland!'

Fitz turned his head sharply to look back at Jamie.

Jamie, for his part, had the kind of beatific smile usually reserved for a stained glass window. He inclined his head and mouthed, 'Your move.'

\------------------

Maddie sat down at the table Jemma had picked out and stirred the whipped cream into her hot chocolate while avoiding her friend's gaze.

Jemma, for her part, sat with one eyebrow raised and her arms folded across her chest and simply waited.

When she could no longer take it anymore, Maddie finally looked up with a self-deprecating smile twisting her mouth. "Shut up!" she said, preemptively.

Jemma raised her hands in defense. "Did I say anything?" she asked, a smile attempting to occupy her face as well.

"You didn't _have_ to say anything," Maddie grumbled good-naturedly, licking off the stir stick and then placing it on a napkin. "You're basically _radiating_ waves of 'I'm so disappointed in you,'" she chuckled.

Unable to keep it in anymore, Jemma pleaded. "Not you _too_ , Maddie! I thought you were an island of sanity in the midst of this chocolate insanity!"

"Hey," Maddie shrugged, taking a sip of the sweet drink in front of her. "Finals aren't that far off. I'll take any help I can get at this point."

Jemma puffed out a sour breath and took a sip of her tea. "Or you could _study,"_ she suggested.

"I'll do that too," Maddie placated her. "But we didn't come here to discuss suspect science." She paused and reconsidered. "Okay, we _kind of_ came here to discuss suspect science," she rephrased. "But not the suspect science about _chocolate_ and intelligence."

Jemma blushed as annoyance crept across her face. "There is nothing _suspect_ about my science!" she protested.

It was Maddie's turn to defend herself with her hands up. "I'm not making accusations here," she clarified. "I haven't read your paper, so I have no idea about the validity of what you're doing."

Mollified somewhat, Jemma mumbled something about methodology into her cup.

"What I _am_ calling into question," she continued, "Is your motive for performing the study in the first place." She watched carefully as Jemma squirmed in her seat. "Because even if your premise is true, Jemma Simmons is not the type of scientist to jump to experimenting on herself."

Jemma's blush deepened as she struggled for something to say. "Well, that's just... I'm _insulted_ you'd even... I'll have you know that..." she trailed off into a helpless sort of silence.

"Yes?" Maddie asked, looking at her friend calmly.

"Because science?" Jemma asked, a sheepish look on her face.

"Sweetie," Maddie reached across the table and took her by the hand with a motherly smile on her face. "Don't ever lie. You're crap at it."

Jemma pulled her hand free in order to cover her face with it. "Oh god," she groaned, her other hand combing through her hair and tugging on it slightly.

Maddie picked up her mug with an interested look on her face. "So, how long have you wanted to bang Fitz then?"

"Oh god," Jemma groaned again, burying her face in both of her hands now.

"How much would you hate me if I made a 'That's what she said' joke right now?" Maddie asked curiously.

" _Oh god,_ " Jemma wailed, her voice muffled by how hard her hands were pressed into her face.

"That much huh?"

"Oh god."

\------------------

"It wasn't me, sir, I _swear_ ,"Fitz promised. He was sitting on a chair in Vaughn's office, staring at his professor across his desk. 

Vaughn looked at him like he was a distasteful substance found on the bottom of his shoe. And not gum, either.

"It was--" Fitz cut himself off with a deep breath. Pranking was a time-honoured tradition at the Academy, and snitching was definitely not. Plus, if he told Dr. Vaughn it was Jamie the prank war would be over. And he would have lost. "--another student," he finished vaguely.

"Mmhmm," Vaughn drawled, somehow making those two syllables drip with sarcasm.

"He ... or _she_ ," Fitz congratulated himself on that catch, "Wasn't pranking _you_ , they were pranking _me_ ," he explained, smiling eagerly.

"Mmhmm," Vaughn intoned again, once again putting more meaning into two syllables than they usually had to bear.

The smile leeched off of Fitz's face and he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I'm sorry sir, but I really can't say who it was."

"Mmhmm?" Vaughn raised an eyebrow in inquiry but otherwise didn't move a muscle. It was remarkable how such a small man could take up such a large amount of space just with the force of his stare.

Fitz put his shoulders back and looked his instructor dead in the eye. "It's a matter of pride, sir," he said with dignity. "He can't be caught until after I win."

At that, Vaughn leaned forward with a glint in his eye and rubbed his hands together. "Well then," he said with jocular interest. "What have you got in store for the bastard?"

\------------------

"How did you know?" Jemma whispered, cupping her hands around her second mug of tea.

"Oh please," Maddie waved a hand in dismissal. "You're barely twenty and I'm pushing thirty," she said airily. "Like it's that hard."

"But..." a look of consternation took hold of her features. "Did _everyone_ know?"

Maddie chuckled. "Well, _Fitz_ sure as hell didn't, I can tell you that much."

Jemma nodded. She'd realized that much. "But everyone _else_?" she asked tentatively.

"I doubt it," Maddie reassured her. "In fact, I only noticed it a couple of weeks ago myself."

"Me too," Jemma's mouth quirked up in one corner and she took a sip of tea.

"In the Boiler Room?" Maddie asked, one eyebrow raised.

Jemma nodded. "When Celeste started flirting with him," she explained.

Maddie nodded back. "Figures."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jemma asked, getting her back up slightly.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist," Maddie said calmly. "I just meant that sometimes you don't notice what you have until you're going to lose it."

"Well yes," Jemma agreed hesitantly. "But I mean... _Fitz_." She smiled sheepishly again. "I'd never even thought of him as a _boy_ before and suddenly..." she trailed off, face full of wonder.

"Suddenly you wanted to spend a large portion of your time in bed with him?" Maddie asked with a devilish grin.

Jemma gave her a saucy one back. "Actually, _yes._ " She spent an enjoyable moment or two reminiscing about doing just that.

"Hey," Maddie snapped her fingers in front of her eyes. "No sexy daydreams unless you're going to share with the class."

"Sorry," Jemma laughed. Then, she sobered. "I do feel bad about Celeste, though." She worried her bottom lip and furrowed her brow. "She _said_ that she was just flirting with him in order to get us together, but..." She scrunched her nose up and squinted. "I dunno, she still seemed a bit upset about it?"

"Well yeah," Maddie shrugged. "She thought Fitz was her secret admirer and next thing she knows, he's all up in _your_ business."

"Secret admirer?" Jemma asked. "Celeste has a secret admirer?"

"Uh huh," Maddie nodded enthusiastically. "And he's either an engineer or he's got some pretty mad skills."


	21. So. Many. Images.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If a picture really IS worth a thousand words, this chapter just doubled my word count

_Three weeks ago..._

Celeste hung up her phone, still laughing, as she approached her room. Her head tilted to the side and her brows came together in mild confusion. What on earth was making that noise? And why was there a giant yellow sign on her door?

As she got closer, she was able to read the equations printed on it.

"I less than three you?" she whispered to herself with a total lack of comprehension.

Bending down, she saw the source of the clattering noise she'd heard from the end of the hall.

She carefully stopped the homopolar motor from running, making sure not to hurt herself on the spinning pieces. As she picked up the coiled copper wire, she realized it had been formed into a heart. " _What_ is going on?" she asked no one in particular. What did Lorentz Force have to do hearts and equations?

  _Two weeks ago..._

Celeste opened her door with a sort of wary optimism. The gifts and messages weren't coming every day, but they were coming often enough that she always got her hopes up. She wasn't disappointed this time, either.

 She picked up her phone and dialled as she brought the message and its accompanying chocolates inside. 

"Deepthi? Yeah, I got another one..."

She opened the box and was delighted to find anatomically correct organs made out of milk chocolate. Whoever this guy was, he certainly knew what she liked.

"No, I have no idea!" she protested to her friend. She smiled and added this latest message to the string where she'd hung up the others. He also definitely liked math. Not that that was unusual around here.

"Oh, c'mon! I doubt it," she laughed. " _Fitz_? He'd _never_..."

Biting her lip and looking at the clock, she decided that 7am was as good a time as any for candy and picked out a heart-shaped piece. Just for the romance of it all.

"Really?" she asked, her voice unclear around a mouthful of chocolate. "You think so?"

 _Last night_...

Celeste sighed and rubbed her face with both hands as she dragged her tired body up the stairs to her floor. That was the last time she'd start a PCR going at midnight. What had she been thinking? Oh right. She'd been thinking that she had to re-run the stupid thing because _someone_ had messed with her sample. She growled internally. Where was the line between pranking and sabotage anyway?

She was so out of it, she very nearly stepped on the latest gift that had been left at her door. In her defense, it was already broken into two pieces. How much more damage would she have done?

She stooped down to pick them up and realized they fit together like a puzzle. When she touched the two pieces together, they completed a circuit and lit up internal LEDs. She gasped in surprise and smiled. "How in the world...?"

She read the message scrawled across the halves and her smile broadened. "You complete me," she had to chuckle at the cheesiness of it. Still, someone was definitely paying attention. They'd been talking about movies at the Boiler Room last weekend and she'd revealed that one of her guilty pleasures was Jerry Maguire.

Now if she could just remember who all had been there for that conversation...

Thinking hard, she picked up the latest note and pressed it to her chest.

Who _was_ this romantic person? And when would she find out?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nerdentines available on my tumblr: http://memorizingthedigitsofpi.tumblr.com/post/114550878807/my-latest-graphics-for-methodology-my-funny
> 
> heart motor how-to: http://www.instructables.com/id/Pair-of-Hearts-Homopolar-Motor/
> 
> anatomical chocolates: http://visualanatomy.com/shop/
> 
> LED heart: http://www.instructables.com/id/LEDMagnetic-heart./


	22. Reach Out and Touch Someone

Fitz's face was a mask of concentration as he soldered the chip in place. He leaned in to inspect the joint and nodded in approval before wiping the tip of the iron off on the damp sponge he had on his desk next to him. Turning it off, he wiped an arm across his brow to remove the sweat that had sprung up in the heat and then leaned back in his chair. He ran a hand through his curls and was just about to ask Dr. Vaughn how his part of the project was coming along when his phone vibrated in his back pocket.

\-------------------

Jemma smiled at her phone and closed her text book. She hadn't been able to concentrate on it, anyway, not when her room was still adorned in fairy lights and she'd found one of Fitz's socks peeking out from under her bed. Pressing her lips together and blushing a bit at the idea, she got onto her bed and hit the button to call her boyfriend.

"Promise?" she whispered when he picked up on the other end.

\-------------------

Fitz gulped, eyes widening and looking over to make sure his professor was preoccupied. "Uh huh," he managed, his awkwardly tight voice indicating that something was amiss.

"Are you alone?" Jemma asked, her voice at the same time curious and sultry. 

Fitz coughed and swiveled his chair so that his back was to Vaughn. "Not exactly," he replied.

"That's too bad," she continued, sighing out a languid breath. "Because I am."

There was something about the way she said it that made Fitz glance over his shoulder to make sure she wasn't accidentally on speaker phone or something. "Ah," he choked out. "That's a... a shame," he stuttered.

"Mmhmm," Jemma moaned. "I was kind of hoping," she sighed again and he desperately wanted to know what was making her make that sound, "You might want to come over and help me... not be alone?"

His mind immediately conjured up several images that would most certainly constitute her not being at all alone. He threw another look over his shoulder at Vaughn before hunching over slightly and whispering into the phone, "I definitely,  _definitely_ do." His enthusiasm for the idea met the awkwardness of being in the middle of a potentially-illegal bit of pranking with one of his professors. "...But—"

"Mmm, I  _love_ your butt," Jemma chuckled seductively. 

Fitz blushed to the roots of his hair and was trying to think of something he could say in reply when she continued. 

"It's so tight and round and feels so good in my hands."

His mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to regulate his breathing and not say something he'd regret being overheard.

" _Especially_ when you're..." she paused for a moment and he leaned further forward in his chair, anticipating what she was going to say. "... _fucking_ me."

" _Just a second!"_ Fitz blurted in a voice much higher than usual. He jumped out of his chair so quickly that it spun three quarters of the way around and only stopped when it hit his knee. He placed one hand over his phone and called over to Dr. Vaughn, "I just have to take this phone call, sir. Very important."

"Mmhmm," Vaughn waved at him, still distracted by the complex series of schematics in front of him.

 

\-------------------

Jemma giggled to herself as she listened to the muffled conversation on the other end of the line. Taking this as an opportunity, she stripped off the sweater and jeans she'd been wearing and crawled under the covers. 

"Are you still there?" Fitz sounded slightly desperate and moderately out of breath. She pictured his little face and grinned.

"Mmhmm," she moaned. "I was just getting undressed." She couldn't help wondering what that announcement might do to his facial expression.

"Un-un-undressed?" he asked, voice cracking slightly. "You mean you're—"

"Bra and panties," she specified. "I thought I'd let you... finish it." She wiggled slightly in the bed, imagining Fitz slowly pulling off her panties. And maybe doing something else while he was down there? She bit her lip and closed her eyes, enjoying the idea.

A noise almost like a whimper came through the phone.

"Fitz? Are you okay?" she asked, somewhere between concern and satisfaction. 

"Yup," he squeaked, and she could hear the click of a door in the background.

"Where are you?"

"Bathroom."

"Alone?"

There was a pause filled with several creaks as he presumably checked the stalls. "Yes," he breathed in obvious relief.

Jemma blushed red hot and worried her lip with her teeth, but the adrenaline had started pumping through her system and she certainly didn't want to stop. Speaking just barely above a whisper and caressing a breast through her bra, she asked "Are you hard?"

\-------------------

Fitz looked down at the tent he was pitching in his jeans and nodded. Then he remembered that she couldn't see him. " _Very_ ," he croaked, sliding into the end stall and locking it securely. Just because he was alone in the bathroom at some god awful time in the middle of the night didn't mean he would _stay_ alone in the bathroom. There was, after all, a minimum of at least one other person in the engineering lab with him, and he _certainly_ didn't want Dr. Vaughn to walk in on... y'know.

A rustling noise came up through the phone, along with several familiar and yet hard to place light clicks.

"Jem?" he asked, wondering with dread if she were going to stop this... whatever this was. His phone beeped under his hand, but he ignored it in favour of straining to hear anything at all on the other end of the line.

"Do you like it?" she replied, her voice curling around his brain and stroking it in all of the best places.

"What?" he asked, honestly not quite able to process anything just then.

"The picture," she clarified, suddenly sounding less breathy and more bossy. "Check your messages!"

Fitz frowned as he fiddled for a moment. When her picture popped up, he almost dropped his phone. "Jemma!" he gasped, equal parts scandalized and titillated. And titillated was definitely an appropriate word. He had in his hand a photo of Simmons' breasts, still just barely encased in a delicate-looking bra, the straps of which had been removed from her shoulders to hang uselessly off her arms.

"So?" she asked, her voice sounding far away since he was still staring at the image she'd sent him. "Do you like it?" she continued, with the same tone she used when she asked him his mark on an assignment she knew she'd done better on.

He nodded his head rapidly, not blinking.

"Fitz?" she laughed, and god even her laugh was sexy. "Are you nodding? Because I can't hear you when you do that."

"Sorry," he whispered hoarsely, licking his lips with his suddenly dry tongue. "I just..." He forced himself to bring the phone back to his ear and he heard those same clicks again. This time, he was able to place them: the click of a phone's camera shutter. "Jemma?" he asked, heart fluttering with anticipation. "Are you—?"

"Taking pictures of myself as I get gradually naked?" she asked nonchalantly, as if she were asking him what he wanted for lunch. Or whether he'd read a particular journal article.

"Yes," he choked out. "That."

"That depends," she replied, and he heard several more clicks.

"On what?"

"On whether or not you're going to take your cock out for me." The way she said the word _cock_ sent a shiver right through his body. It sounded so crisp and fresh with her perfectly formed post-velar stops and rounded vowel.

\-------------------

Jemma smiled as the sound of a zipper being unzipped made its way through her phone. She squeezed her thighs together and sighed contentedly.

"It's out," Fitz told her redundantly, and his voice sounded rougher now. Deeper. It vibrated past her eardrum and tingled all the way down to her toes.

"Show me," she moaned, pulling down a bra cup to better tease her nipple. "I want to see it."

A moment later, her phone buzzed in her hand and she was greeted with the sight of Fitz's hard cock wrapped in his hand and already leaking precum.

Jemma licked her lips, remember what that tasted like. "You look delicious," she whispered, her own voice deepening with her desire as she hit send on her own picture. This one showed the flare of her hips as her back arched and her thumb pulled her panties dangerously low on one side.

The gasp on the other end of the line ended with a groan. "Fuck, Jemma," Fitz whispered fiercely. "You're so fucking sexy."

Her breaths were coming quick and shallow now and she hadn't even properly touched herself yet. She took several more pictures, this time of her bra half-pulled down to reveal one breast and its hardened nipple. Choosing the best one, she sent it back to him. "You make me _feel_ so fucking sexy," she told him, reaching back to remove her bra entirely.

\-------------------

Fitz spit on his hand and rubbed it and the precum around the head of his cock. He squeezed himself just the way he liked, content to use one hand because the other hand was connecting him to Jemma in the most wonderful way. When the next picture came through, his previously dry mouth salivated and the pace of his hand increased.

"Holy fuck you've got great tits, Jem," he moaned, closing his eyes as he stroked.

"I wish you were sucking on them, right now," she moaned back. "My nipples are _so hard_ ," she whimpered.

"So's my cock," he growled back, remembering just what it was like to press his lips against her breasts. "I wish this was your pussy instead of my hand," he whispered, shivering at the words as much as the images.

"Oh Fitz," she gasped and the last time he'd heard that particular sound was when he was stroking her clit. "I wish this was your cock instead of my fingers." He imagined her lying in bed the way she had been the other night, rubbing her wet pussy and moaning his name.

"Are you wet for me, Jemma?" he asked and his hand was moving like a blur now.

"So wet, Fitz," she gasped, her breathing ragged and catching in the back of her throat. "Wet and ready for you to fuck me."

"Fuck yes," he groaned, right on the edge of cumming. "I wanna taste you, Jemma," he whispered. "I want to feel you on my tongue."

\-------------------

Jemma's fingers trembled against her clit as she imagined them being replaced with Fitz's tongue. "Oh god, Fitz," she panted. "Lick my pussy, lick it til I cum." Her gasping breaths turned into whimpering wails as her hips lifted to meet her fingers and her head tossed and turned on her pillow.

"Fuuuuuuuuck," Fitz groaned out slowly, his own panting breaths turning ragged as he came.

Jemma collapsed on her bed, her whole body feeling like jello. She could barely hold onto her phone. "Did you—?" she asked, still trying to catch her breath.

"Oh yeah," Fitz confirmed emphatically. "You too?"

"Very much so," she smiled into the darkness of her room. "Are you two almost done yet? Because I want to take you up on that offer..."

\-------------------

Fitz blushed as he tried to clean himself up as best he could one-handed. "Nearly there," he said apologetically. "Sorry it's taking longer than I expected."

"That's alright," Jemma said understandingly. "Something like that will definitely need a lot of set-up."

He reached up to rub a hand along the back of his neck but stopped himself just in time. There was some thorough handwashing in his near future. "But maybe tomorrow we could...?" He felt ridiculous being all shy about it now, but with the heat of the moment over he just wasn't sure what he couldn't and couldn't say.

"Copulate like Leporidae?" she laughed.

Fitz chuckled and shook his head. Only Simmons would say something like that. "Right," he said. "That."

"It's a date," she said and he could almost hear her smile. "Good luck with your plotting."

"Pranking," he clarified. "Sleep well."

"You too, whenever you finally get to bed."

He hung up his phone, adjusted himself more thoroughly and gave himself another once-over to make sure he hadn't missed any... evidence. Then, after the previously predicted bout of handwashing, he returned to the lab.  

Dr. Vaughn looked up from the schematics and pierced him with an evaluative glare.

"If you're quite done fiddling about," he said rather shortly. "I think we can proceed."


	23. Spotlight: Jamie

Fitz closed the metal casing with slight clang and handed the keys back to Dr. Vaughn. The two men shared a triumphant grin lit up by their flashlights and then moved quietly back through nooks and crannies, ducking under pipes and around vents. When they got back to the main door, they shook hands solemnly and nodded. They would never speak of this again.

\----------------

Jemma put her breakfast tray down on the table and smiled in greeting. "Morning, everyone," she said with a certain perkiness.

Jamie narrowed his eyes at her as he snaked a piece of toast. "God, you and Fitz are just _rabbits_ aren't you?" he asked before slurping another sip of coffee.

Jemma blushed. "What do you mean?" she asked, moving her toast to the other side of the tray to protect it and picking up her tea to hide behind.

"If you were glowing any brighter," he said, taking Celeste's yoghurt from her tray. "I'd need sunglasses."

"Stop stealing my food, you mooch," Celeste rolled her eyes and sighed. "It's all free - just go get some."

"Oh, I wanna _get some_ alright," Jamie joked, turning towards her in his seat and thrusting his pelvis. "Feel like helping me out?"

She rolled her eyes again, "Wow. How could I possibly resist such an attractive proposition?" she asked in an absolutely flat voice. "I am overcome with lust for you after such a romantic request." She stuck her tongue out at him and grabbed her yoghurt back.

Jemma laughed and then remembered something. "Ooh, Maddie told me about your secret admirer!" she said brightly. "Do you know who it is yet?"

Celeste blushed slightly and looked down a bit guiltily. "Uh, no," she said into her yoghurt. "I mean," she continued, clearing her throat but still not looking up. "I _thought_ I knew," her lips quirked in self-deprecation, "but it turns out I'm not Sherlock Holmes, so..." she shrugged. She took a deep breath and smiled, meeting Simmons' gaze again. "I may not know him, but he _definitely_ knows me," she laughed.

"Oh yeah?" Jamie asked, reaching out once more to her tray and this time taking an apple.

Celeste let him off with a look and a mild shove. "Yeah," she continued, turning back to Jemma. "He's super sweet and knows all my favourite things, and he even remember things that I forget even saying!" She bounced in her seat a bit, happily. "And he leaves me a note or a gift or something almost every day, so it's like Christmas all the time!"

"That sounds lovely," Jemma said, a slightly dreamy look on her face. "Just like a film, really."

"I know, right?" Celeste sighed.

Jamie blew a loud raspberry, annoying both of the girls. " _Lame,"_ he proclaimed.

Celeste shoved him again, a bit harder this time. "Like _you_ know what girls like," she said, shaking her head.

Jamie put on an expression of mock pain. "Hey!" he protested. "I'll have you know that the ladies _love_ Cool James."

Jemma and Celeste exchanged a look and started giggling.

Jamie ignored their reaction and stole some bacon from each of them.

\----------------

Fitz finally woke up well after breakfast had ended, but he still had a large smile on his face. He got out of bed and padded to his desk, taking his tablet out of his bag. It was time to get things rolling. He tapped in a few commands and then paused, considering. After a moment, he smiled and typed rapidly again. Perfect. A few more taps, and he was done.

Now to have a shower and get to the lab. He wanted to see it in action.

\----------------

Jamie stared at his computer, brows growing closer and closer together in frustration. He blew out a breath and clenched his hands into fists, trying to ignore it. He closed his eyes for a moment, calming himself down, and then tried to focus on the screen again to find the bug in his code.

\----------------

Celeste wiggled her hips and bopped her head along to the music she was listening to on her ipod. The PCR machine was all hers today, and she planned to get as much done as possible. She moonwalked over to the refrigerator and pulled out her samples, being careful not to disturb anything else. She'd once grabbed the wrong vial by mistake and had ended up in the medbay for a week.

\----------------

Jamie groaned out loud, tearing one hand through his hair and thumping the desk with the other. He stared up at the fluorescent lights above him as they flickered erratically. Seriously, he'd called Facilities Management two hours ago. How hard was it to fix a damned bulb?

\----------------

Jemma combed her hair back behind her ears and focused on the screen in front of her. She wrote a few notes on her latest findings and sat down to do the math on her adjustments. Fitz's dispersal machine lay in its box beside her, and every time she glanced at it, she smiled and blushed and remembered their night together. She was definitely going to have to drag him home with her tonight. That phone call had been wonderful, but she wanted the real thing.

With another blush, this one spreading all the way across her chest, she shook her head and refocused on the task at hand.

\----------------

Jamie stomped his way down the hallway and burst into the lab where Maddie was working. "That's it!" he shouted. "I can't take it!"

Maddie jumped in surprise at the loud entrance and clutched her beaker more tightly in her fist. "Do _not_ burst in on a chemist like that, Jamie!" she shrieked. "Do you have _any idea_ what I'm working with in here?" Breathing hard and feeling her heart pound in her chest, she put the vial of liquid carefully back in its stand and then placed her hands on her hips. "I could quite literally _kill_ you with anything in this room!"

"Do it!" he shouted back. "It'd put me out of my misery!"

"What are you talking about?"

"The lights!" he shouted, pointing up at the flickering fluorescents. "This whole school is full of flickering lights!" He put a hand over his eyes and gestured dramatically with the other. "I can't take it anymore!"

Maddie looked at him like the crazy person he was. "Jamie, sweetie," she said in the voice someone uses when they fear for their safety. "I think you've  had a bit too much coffee today." She approached him slowly in a non-threatening manner. "Maybe go and lie down?"

"Yes," he murmured. "Lie down." He wandered out of the door of the lab. "Somewhere dark."

Maddie shook her head as she watched him leave. The lights in the corridor seemed to be flickering too. When she turned back into the lab, however, the lights were fine. Weird.

\----------------

Fitz sat in the monitoring station with his arms folded across his chest and look of complete satisfaction on his face.

"Thanks again for the doughnuts, man," said Fred, the security guard who watched the lab feeds on weekends. "I really appreciate it."

"No worries, Fred," said Fitz expansively. "Thanks for letting me watch the feeds."

Fred shrugged and took out another Boston cream. "S'pretty boring, unless someone blows something up," he said. "Want another coffee?"

"I'm good thanks," Fitz said distractedly, watching Jamie go from lab to lab. He seemed to be ranting at them, but the only reaction he was getting in return was confusion or trepidation. Whatever he was saying, no one was believing him.

"Hey, by the way," Fred asked. "How come you sounded all American on the phone before?"

"Hmm?" Fitz asked, still focused on the monitor. "Oh, part of the prank," he explained. "Had to make him think he was calling Facilities, and if I'd sounded like myself I'd have given it away." That had been a fun bit of phone routing.

"Remind me never to piss you off, man."

\----------------

"Marcus!" Jamie greeted his friend desperately. "Tell me you see it!"

"See what?" Marcus asked, looking around for some sort of monster.

"The _lights_ ," Jamie whispered. "They're _flickering_."

"So?" Marcus asked, frowning. "Are you okay, buddy?"

"No one else sees it!" Jamie said. "I come in, the lights flicker... I go out, they stop!" His eyes widened in horror. "Maybe I'm _haunted_."

"Dude, I don't th--"

"I need to get some salt!"

"Salt?"

"To kill the ghost!"

Marcus took hold of his friend's arm and held him in place. "Dude, I think you need to tell me what you took."

"What are you talking about?"

"Pot? Shrooms? PCP? What are we talking about here?"

"I'm not _on_ something!" Jamie protested. "It's the _lights!_ "

\----------------

Celeste wandered into the break room for another cup of coffee and was surprised to see Jamie duct taped to a chair with Marcus and Wendel whispering above his head. "Uh... guys?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to know.

"Celeste!" Jamie shouted. "The li--" he was cut off by Marcus' hand clamping around his mouth.

"Jamie's having a bit of a tough time, just now," he explained with a false smile.

Wendel stage whispered, "I think the end of term is getting to him," and circled one finger around his temple in the gesture for crazy.

"Dude!" Marcus jumped back and wiped his hand on his jeans. "Gross! You licked me!"

"The lights, Celeste," Jamie said quickly. "Look at the lights!"

Celeste looked up and watched the lights flickering above them. There was something familiar about the pattern. "Is that... morse code?" she asked.

" _What?_ " all three men asked at the same time.

\----------------

Fitz stood outside the lab building, enjoying the fruits of his labour. While the psychological trickery of having the flickering lights follow Jamie around the lab all day had been fun, _this_ was the big payoff. He took his cell out of his pocket and called his girlfriend. "Hey Jem," he said. "I'm done for the day if you are."

\----------------

"Really, Fitz," Jemma said with affectionate scolding. "Isn't this a _bit_ much?"

"If you want to win a prank war," he explained, wrapping his around around her waist. "You have to really _decimate_ your enemy."

"Well, you've certainly done that," she shook her head. "He was at his wits' end by the time Celeste decoded the message."

"You mean he already knows?" Fitz asked, a bit disappointed. "But I wanted this to be the big reveal," he gestured in front of them.

"I'm pretty sure this is still a big reveal," Jemma replied, shaking her head and staring at the building. "How did you even do this?"

"I promised I wouldn't tell."

"I'm probably better off not knowing."


	24. Improvements Have Been Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is rated E for Everyone.
> 
> ... I mean Explicit.

"Did you see the look on his face?" Fitz asked from his seat on Jemma's bed with a look of jubilation on his own.

"Mmhmm," Jemma nodded, kneeling on her bed to get closer to him and kissing his neck.

"Serves him right," he continued gloating while loosening his tie. "For that banner." He unrolled his sleeves and unbuttoned his shirt. "And the whoopee cushion."

Jemma kissed her way down his collar bone and licked the dip in the centre before moving to the other side and sucking on his neck again. "Fitz?" she asked.

"Yeah?" he answered, still distracted by his feeling of triumph.

"Did you want to talk about Jamie?" she asked, leaning back to look at him pointedly. "Or did you want to have sex?"

He hesitated for a moment and she slapped him on the shoulder.

"What?" he laughed, ducking slightly. "I'm _joking!"_

She grinned at him through her pout. "Idiot," she teased.

"You're sure we can't do both?" he smirked.

She rolled her eyes and stood up to pull her sweater off over her head.

"Like, I could tell you about the look on his face," he stood up too and shrugged out of his button down. "And you could tell me how amazing I am in your sexy voice."

"Sexy voice?" Jemma asked, skeptically, as she slid her hands under the bottom of his t-shirt and moved them up his chest.

Fitz wrapped his arms around her and kissed her softly on the tip of her nose. "Mmhmm," he confirmed. Moving downward, he nuzzled her neck and whispered in her ear. "The voice you use when you... _say things_ ," he explained.

"Say things?" Jemma asked, and her voice got all sultry and low. "What kind of things?" she asked, her nails scratching his chest lightly. She stepped closer into his arms and tilted her head so that he had more access to her neck.

He sucked lightly just below her jaw and then moved up to nibble her ear. "Things like what a sex god I am," he whispered with a grin.

Jemma laughed so hard she was clutching him for support instead of for foreplay.

"It's not _that_ funny," Fitz said, shaking his head and smiling while he rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry!" she panted, trying to catch her breath. "It's not, but..." she looked up at his face and started giggling again.

"I'm getting better!" he protested.

"You're getting brilliant!" she placated, another giggle escaping her lips even as she tried to keep them pressed together.

His grin turned from self-deprecating to rakish and he undid the fly of his jeans. "Well, I hear that practice makes perfect..." He reached up and cupped her face in one hand, leaving the other one at her waist. Leaning down, he pressed a light kiss to first one corner of her lips and then then other.

Jemma smiled up into his eyes. "Practice more," she said, removing one hand from under his shirt to run her fingers through his hair. "Your aim is off." She pulled him back down and kissed the corners of his mouth in return.

His smile broadened and he licked her lips. "Bossy," he said fondly, brushing her mouth with his.

"You love it," she sighed, tilting her head closer to press their lips more firmly together.

"Mmhmm," he nodded, eyes closing as their kiss deepened. He brought his other hand up to cup both sides of her face and opened his lips against hers as he guided her where he wanted her to be.

She gasped into his mouth and moved her hands to his arms, running her fingers from his shoulders to his elbows before sliding them up his back to his shoulder blades. She pressed her breasts into his chest and breathed deep, pulling him as close to her as she could.

His hands slid down her neck and over her breasts, squeezing them gently, and his thumbs rubbed her nipples into hardness. The soft whimpers she was making were driving him crazy, and he slid his tongue past her lips to taste her.

She sucked lightly on his tongue, enjoying the moans that elicited, and moved one hand back up and into his hair while the other hand clutched at his back.

His arms wrapped around her back again, this time pulling her so tight against his body that her feet lifted from the ground.

Jemma pulled back just enough to gasp out, "Bed," before tilting her head and sliding her tongue between his lips.

He turned them so that her back was to the bed and slowly lowered her down to lie on her back sideways across it. Lying on his side next to her, he moved from her lips back to her neck, sucking at her pulse and stroking her bra strap off one shoulder. Kissing his way across her clavicle, he pulled her cup down to capture her nipple in his mouth.

" _Fiiitz_ ," she breathed, and this time both of her hands fisted into his hair. Her breath started coming in short gasps as he pulled the other cup down to give the same treatment to her other nipple. Besides the kissing, this had been his biggest improvement. The first time he'd played with her breasts had been rough and painful, but now he was gentle thorough and knew just what she liked. Her back arched to push her breasts up into his face at the same time that her hands pressed him against her.

"Is my aim getting better?" he asked, grinning wickedly at her and reaching behind her to undo her bra. He fumbled a bit with the catches and frowned in concentration.

"Much," she grinned back, leaning up on her elbows to give him some more room. "Did you want me to do that?" she asked when he fumbled again.

"I've got it!" he insisted, pulling her up a bit more and ducking his head around her back so that he could see what he was doing. "I just need to..." It finally came open and he looked even happier than he had when he'd seen Jamie's face earlier. "Got it!"

"You're getting faster," Jemma observed, reaching to pull his tshirt over his head.

"I think I've got the hang of it now," he agreed, pulling her bra off her arms and tossing it on the floor behind him. He moved back to nuzzle between her breasts and kissed down her stomach.

"That tickles!" Jemma laughed as he licked her belly button. Then her laughter trailed off as he undid the fly of her jeans and kissed her above her panties. "Fitz?" she asked as he tugged at the denim.

"Mmhmm?" he responded, loving the way her hips moved as she lifted them up for him. He tugged at her jeans again, and this time he got them pulled down over her ass. He looked up at her with wide eyes and kissed her above her panties again, this time on her hip.

Jemma's heart thrummed in her chest as she watched him pull her jeans down her thighs and calves and then gently slide them off each foot in turn. He was kneeling on the floor beside the bed now, and the way he was looking at her, his glance moving from her face to her panties and back again, she thought she knew where this might be going. "Are you sure?" she asked. They'd talked about it the other night and he'd been hesitant, not sure he'd be any good.

Fitz nodded firmly, moving his hands up her calves to spread her thighs. "Definitely," he said, kneeling between them.

"But the other night..." Jemma started, squeezing her kegel muscles in anticipation.

"I meant what I said on the phone," he said, leaning up and pulling her towards him for another kiss.

She leaned down from above him, her hair tickling his shoulders as it fell down around their faces. Her hands cupped his face the way his had cupped her earlier, and she wrapped her legs around his ribs, pulling him in closer. "That you want to..." her breath caught in her throat and she moaned as he nibbled her neck again.

"I want to taste you," he confirmed. His hands moved over her breasts again, teasing them until her nipples were painfully hard. "I want to feel your pussy on my tongue," he whispered in her ear.

"Oh god, Fitz," she moaned and her fingers tangled in his hair as she dragged him over for another kiss. Her tongue slid into his mouth as her lips moved over his.

"Would you like that, Jemma?" he asked, and his voice was rough and growly in her ears.

She nodded and whimpered into his mouth.

"Say it, Jemma," he begged. "Say it in your sexy voice."

"Lick me, Fitz," she gasped, shuddering at the words. "Lick my pussy with your tongue," she pushed his head back down towards her belly and lay back on the bed. "I want to feel it on my clit." Her hips were moving in slow circles now. "I want it inside me," she continued, lifting her hands from his head to play with her breasts.

Fitz kissed her mound through her panties, then tentatively licked the wet spot below. He was gratified by the way Simmons' hips immediately lifted at the touch, and he decided that the taste wasn't bad either. He was kind of relieved about that because he wanted to do this for her but he'd had no idea what to expect. The internet had been full of conflicting information.

Taking a deep breath and biting his lip, he slipped his fingers under the waistband of her panties and began to slowly pull. He inched them down her hips, watching as she was revealed and kissing the insides of her thighs. His heart was beating almost through his chest as the cotton stuck against her for a moment before coming free. He gulped hard as he slid her panties down her thighs and she bent her knees to help them slip off her legs entirely. He was glad he'd already unzipped his jeans or things might be decidedly uncomfortable for him.

Stroking her thighs with the pads of his fingers, he looked up at her face again. "Do I just...?" he asked, suddenly feeling unsure again now that the moment had come. He really wanted this to be good for her, the way she'd made sure things were good for him.

She smiled down at him, loving how adorable he was. "Uh huh," she nodded, still teasing herself with her hands. "And I'll let you know what I like best," she bit her lip and pushed her hips up again. The anticipation was killing her.

"Right," Fitz nodded. With a determined look on his face, he leaned forward and parted her lips. She was a brighter pink than he'd expected, and he could see her wetness pooling there. He licked experimentally. His eyes widened in surprise when he watched her lips contract right in front of him. He gave her another little lick and watched them contract again. It was fascinating to see, so he kept doing it. Lick, watch. Lick, watch.

"Fitz?" Jemma said breathily.

"Yeah?" he asked, still licking and watching.

"Can you..." she panted and her thighs squeezed around him slightly. "I need you to..." She gripped his hair in her fingers again and pulled him closer in. " _Deeper_ ," she finally managed.

" _Ohh_ ," Fitz nodded, realization hitting him. "Of course!" He moved in again and slid his tongue inside her, wiggling it around a bit when he heard her moan. "Like that?" he asked, raising his head up again.

Jemma nodded with her eyes closed. "Keep going," she urged, guiding him back down.

Fitz tilted his head a bit and went back at it. Really, it wasn't that different from kissing her mouth. He was kind of surprised there wasn't more to it, really, and tried to think of what else he should be doing. Then, he remembered what she'd said about her clit.

Jemma moaned softly as her hips pushed against Fitz's mouth. He was being so gentle and thorough down there. She felt completely relaxed and open to him. She could just lay here like this for _years_ with his lips and his tongue doing... "OW! What are--" she looked down between her legs at a now sheepish-looking Fitz. "What on earth did you just do?" she asked, trying to keep her tone even but at the same time wanting to make it absolutely clear that whatever that was, it was _not_ appreciated. 

Fitz gave her a slightly wincing smile as he looked up at her awkwardly. "I um," he cleared his throat. "Nibbled?" he asked, uncertainly. "Your um... clit?" he concluded, looking at her from under raised brows.

Jemma blinked down at him. That was an interesting definition of the word 'nibble' that's for sure. "Maybe just stick to licking?" she suggested. "Licking is good."

"Licking is good," Fitz repeated, nodding. "Licking is good," he moved back between her legs and quickly tongued her clit. "Like that?" he asked, seeking approval.

Jemma couldn't help but smile at him. "Yes, like that," she confirmed. "Lots of quick little licks like that on my clit, and long deep licks everywhere else," she instructed. 

Fitz nodded again and gave her a long, deep lick from the bottom of her pussy up to her clit where he feathered it with a half dozen little licks. When he heard her sighs and moans, he smiled to himself and did it again. And again. And again.

"You're a," Jemma sighed, " _Very_ ," she moaned, "Quick learner," she her moan ended in a whimper as he flicked his tongue over her clit one more time. 

"Mmmm," he moaned into her pussy, appreciating the compliment, and the vibrations felt spectacular.

"Fitz?"

"Mmm?" he asked distractedly.

"Get up here."

"Mm?" his tone was clearly confused.

"Please?"

"MmmMmm," apparently he didn't want to.

"Mmhmm," Jemma argued firmly, tugging on his hair.

"But--" he finally came up for air.

"I want your cock in me now," she said, and the look in her eyes was dangerous. 

Fitz gulped, wiping a hand across his mouth and quickly shucking his jeans and shorts. When Jemma had a look like that on her face, you didn't argue with her. And when she was as wet as she was right now, he really didn't even want to try. He quickly grabbed the condoms from her bedside table and took a deep breath. Now was the test. 

Jemma watched with curiosity and pride as Fitz managed to put the condom on correctly. It looked like he'd taken her advice and practiced. "Well done," she congratulated him as she pulled him down on top of her. Her eyes closed happily as his cock bumped up against her clit.

"I practiced," Fitz explained needlessly. "Didn't want you to have to do it for me all the time," he said, rolling his hips back until he was able to feel her entrance.

"I would, you know," Jemma said, kissing him as he slid inside her. "Mmm I'd do it every time, as long as we could still do this," she moaned, her hands roaming everywhere across his back, through his hair, over his ass.

Fitz pumped his hips against hers with a steady rhythm, kissing her neck and gripping her thighs. "We can still do this," he panted. "We can always do this," he moaned. "God, I never want to stop doing this."

"I never want to stop either," Jemma gasped into his ear. Her breath was coming faster and faster and she felt a tightness winding inside of her. "Fitz," she gasped.

"Jemma," he moaned back. His thrusts were coming faster and harder now as the pleasure built up.

"Fitz?" Jemma panted, almost holding her breath. Her eyes were wide and her mouth popped open in an O as she tried to breathe.

"Of fuck Jemma," he shuddered, feeling himself so close to going over the edge.

" _Fitz!_ " she shrieked, head slamming back onto the bed and then tossing side to side as her nails dug into his back.

Fitz's eyes opened wide as he felt her squeeze tight around his cock and thrash around beneath him. He watched, fascinated as her face shuddered with waves of pleasure and her whole body seemed to tense up for a moment. It was the most beautiful, amazing thing he'd ever seen and he couldn't help but come along with her.

Afterwards, they lay panting and gasping on her bed and he rolled them over so that she was on top.

"You know," he panted, trying to catch his breath. "I think I'm getting the hang of it."

Jemma chuckled through her own panting breaths. "You know," she said, leaning over to kiss him one more time. "I think you kind of are."


	25. Where Everybody Knows Your Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the inadvertent hiatus guys! My brain keeps getting super-inspired for things that are not this. I'm going to try to control it, though, and get this story DONE! :)

Jemma sighed deeply as her hips finally slowed on top of Fitz's. She'd only been half kidding with her 'copulate like leporidae' comment, and thankfully he'd taken her at her word. She smiled the smile of the deeply satisfied and slipped off her boyfriend to collapse beside him on the bed.

" _Wow_ ," Fitz whispered, eyes as wide as saucers as he stared, unseeingly, at the ceiling of her dorm room. "That was..." He blinked slowly once, twice. " _Wow_ ," he repeated. "I mean..." he turned his head to look at her.

"Wow?" she teased, grinning back at him.

"Yeah," he nodded. He turned to stare at the ceiling again and ran a hand through his hair. "Can we do that again, like, _always_?" he asked.

Jemma curled against his side and turned his head towards her again so she could kiss him. "We can do it again right _now_ , if you'd like," she said archly.

"Oh, I'd _like_ ," Fitz confirmed, kissing her back with enthusiasm. After a moment, he leaned back and looked down his body, hoping for a reaction. "But I think I'm going to need a bit of down time," he apologized. Twenty years old or not, three times in two hours seemed to be his limit. Seeing her pout, he leaned over and kissed her breast. "Of course, _you_ don't have the same physiological deficits that I do," he grinned.

She grinned right back and seriously considered it for a moment, but the truth was she could use a bit of a break. She squeezed her thighs together, enjoying the slightly achy feeling in all of her muscles. They'd had quite a workout.

She pulled him up for another kiss, this one just a chaste peck. "How about we grab some food at the Boiler Room?" she suggested. "It'll give you a chance to bask in the glory."

Fitz's face lit up at the suggestion. " _Yes!_ " he half-shouted. "I can't believe I forgot..." He shook his head and smiled. "You actually made me forget that I just pulled off the best prank the Academy has seen in thirty years. How do you do that?"

Jemma raised an eyebrow at him and deadpanned. "I'm pretty sure it's the boobs."

 --------------------

" **FIIIIIITZZZZZZ!** " the Boiler Room erupted as they entered. Apparently, they'd been waiting for him to arrive. Hands patted him on the back and shoulders or reached out to ruffle his hair as he made his way down the staircase to the bar. He grinned with both pride and embarrassment the whole way.

Jamie got up from the bar stool where he'd been nursing a drink and put out a hand. "Well played, sir," he acknowledge solemnly.

"Truce?" Fitz asked before accepting the offer.

Jamie hesitated for a moment, considering. Then, he shrugged and nodded. "Truce." They shook hands firmly for a moment before he pulled Fitz towards him sharply and gave him a giant hug. "How could I stay mad at you?" he asked, kissing Fitz's cheek with a loud smacking noise.

Fitz rolled his eyes and extricated himself from the hug. "Yeah, yeah," he chuckled, swiping a hand across his cheek to get rid of the moisture there. "Shut up and buy me a drink."

"You should buy _me_ one," Jamie argued.

Jemma wrapped her arms around Fitz from behind and propped her head on his shoulder. "How about you buy _each other_ drinks?" she suggested, "And move past the pissing contest directly to the male bonding?" She reached out a hand and grabbed a couple of pretzels, eating one and holding the other one in front of Fitz's mouth for him.

"Ugh," Celeste rolled her eyes with a smile as she and Maddie approached. "Could you two _be_ any more adorable?" She grabbed a pretzel of her own and sat down next to Jamie.

Maddie nodded vehemently. "Have you seen them in the lab together?" she asked, waving down the bartender. "They can _definitely_ be more adorable." She poked Jemma in the ribs and danced out of the way of the swat that earned her. "It's enough to make my Grinch heart grow two sizes every day."

Jemma blushed and curled her hair back over her ear. "Cardiomegaly is a serious condition," she replied. "And isn't generally caused by public displays of affection."

Celeste sighed into her beer. "I wouldn't mind testing that theory from the other side," she said. "But the only guy who's interested in me _won't show his face_!" She turned to Jamie. "Am I that terrible?" she asked accusingly.

Jamie's brows rose up and he got a panicked look on his face. "Not at all!" he said hurriedly. Then, changing his panic to a smirk he continued. "In fact," he waggled his brows. "I can hardly hear the music over the sound of how awesome you are!"

She laughed and shook her head in resignation. "I am never going to date again," she sighed, drinking the rest of her beer in one big gulp.

"That's a bit dramatic, don't you think?" Maddie asked, catching sight of Marcus across the room and lifting Celeste's empty bottle to ask for another.

"Says the woman who could have Wendel Holmes at the crook of a finger," Celeste retorted.

" _Wendel_?" Fitz and Jamie asked at the same time. When had that happened?

"He's sweet," Maddie admitted. "But he's a _child_."

"He's _twenty-six_ , _"_ Jemma corrected her, standing up to her full height. "If _he's_ a child, what are Fitz and I?"

"Not old enough to be drinking what you're drinking," Marcus joked, bringing Celeste her beer. "Congrats, man," he fist bumped Fitz. "Awesome prank."

"Thanks!"

"How'd you do it, anyway?"

They all perked up to hear the answer, but Fitz wasn't revealing anything. "Sorry guys, but that's a secret I have to take to the grave."

\--------------------

Jamie, Wendel, and Oliver blundered their way drunkenly through the underbelly of the lab building. They were bent on fixing whatever Fitz had rigged up on the lighting, but they couldn't seem to find what they were looking for. Every time they thought they were close, they'd either run into an unexpected wall or trip over cabling in the floor or, in the case of poor Oliver who was rather taller than the other two, run headlong into an overhead pipe and spend several minutes swearing and rubbing his forehead.

\--------------------

"But we're just friends," Maddie protested, waiting for Fitz to return with what they'd decided would be their last round of drinks. The Boiler Room was starting to empty out slowly as couples paired off or students decided not to be hungover in the morning.

"So were Fitz and I," Jemma replied, "Until we weren't." She looked over at where he was standing at the bar talking to Marcus, and she couldn't help smiling.

Celeste groaned. "I want _that_ ," she said, pointing at Jemma's smile.

"Don't we all?" Maddie agreed. "But _Wendel_?" she asked, brows crinkling together.

"Doesn't hurt to try," Jemma shrugged.

"You're proof-positive of that," Celeste nodded. "You guys really are great together," she sighed.

"Aww," Jemma squeezed her shoulder in support. "We'll find you someone," she reassured her. "I mean, what about your secret admirer?"

"Yeah," Maddie nodded. "Let's find _that_ guy!"

"Do you think we can?" Celeste asked, brightening up. "I mean, it's been almost a month and I haven't seen a trace!"

"We definitely can!" Jemma said confidently.

"Can what?" Fitz asked, carefully placing their drinks on the table. He looked around at the three women who were suddenly paying him a lot of attention.

"Fitz?" Jemma asked, playing with the buttons on his shirt. ''You've still got that drone with the camera in it, right?"


	26. Math Nerds are Sexy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all of the math nerdiness is explained in an endnote :)

Fitz hummed to himself as the data from their most recent "activities" compiled on the computer in front of him. He looked over at where Simmons was pulling the latest batch of QNB out of the fridge and opened up a new graph. He grinned to himself as he input the equation.

"Hey, Fitz," Maddie greeted him from behind, causing him to jump guiltily in his seat. "Whatcha workin' on?" she asked cheerfully.

"Um," his eyes shifted back and forth, and he gulped. He didn't want to graph the equation in front of her, and he _certainly_ didn't want her to see the other chart he'd been working on, so instead he spun in his seat and tried to block the monitor with his body. "Just reading ahead for Holographic Engineering," he lied, attempting to look as trustworthy as possible.

"Oh _great,_ " Maddie replied in a rush. "I could _really_ use some help with it!" She grabbed the stool next to him and pulled it closer in order to see the monitor.

Fitz's eyes widened in a panic, and he was just about to do something drastic like 'accidentally' spill his hot tea on himself when Simmons called Maddie over for a consult on her serum. He blew out a massive sigh of relief and was just turning back around to delete his equation when another voice approached him from behind.

" _Niiiice_ ," Jamie said, pointing to the screen. "Not my favourite, but not bad at all."

Fitz blushed and rubbed a hand along the back of his neck. "What do you mean?" he asked. When in doubt, deny, deny, deny.

Jamie raised an eyebrow and quirked his mouth in the well-known expression of 'I'm not buying it, buddy'. He grabbed the keyboard and mouse and input his own equation. "Forget that cheesy crap," he scoffed. " _This_ is where it's at." Typing quickly, he entered an integral onto the screen and sat back, crossing his arms over his chest triumphantly.

Fitz rolled his eyes. " _Riiiight_ ," he said sarcastically. "I'm _pretty_ sure that won't work on  _any_ girl, _ever_."

"Well," Jamie answered. "Maybe not _many_ girls," he admitted. "But the ones who hate calculus will think you're smart." He grinned and leaned back, arms crossed behind his head now. "And the ones who know calculus?" His grin turned nothing short of saucy. "Well, some of _them_ get horny, just like you and me." He closed his eyes as if he were picturing a particularly good memory.

Fitz wrested the mouse from his friend and moved to close his graphing window, but then he remembered exactly what statistics were being processed underneath it and gulped nervously again. Crap. Jamie was watching him, so he had to do _something_ , but what?

"That's about as subtle as taking the integral of e to the x equal to f at u to the n."

"Hey," Jamie said, putting his hands up in front of him in defence. "I _never_ claimed I was subtle!" He looked around the room, taking in Maddie and Jemma talking quietly on the other side of the lab. "You seen Celeste?" he asked, casually.

Fitz frowned, deleting Jamie's equation. "She's probably in the AV Lab watching the footage," he answered a bit distractedly. A message had popped up to tell him that his stats had finished compiling, and he really hoped Jamie wouldn't ask what he was working on because he hadn't come up with a better answer since Maddie had asked him.

"What footage?" Jamie asked, peering over Fitz's shoulder.

"From the drone I set up to catch her secret admirer," Fitz shrugged.

Jamie's eyes widened and he immediately stood up. "I've gotta go," he blurted, darting towards the door. He spun awkwardly on one foot and slid back towards Fitz to pick up his bag before running out the door again. "Later man!" he shouted over his shoulder.

Fitz breathed a sigh of relief. He saved the stats to his flash drive and promptly deleted the file from the computer. The last thing he wanted was another person coming up behind him when he had _that_ on the screen.

Once more, he looked across the room to where Simmons was engaged in a deep discussion with Maddie over something biochemical. He smiled and hit the 'graph' button on his software, watching the plot of his equation appear on the screen.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who don't want to do the math:  
> Equation 1 is mapped to the graph at the end of the chapter.  
> Equation 2 is equal to 69?  
> the integral of e to the x equal to f at u to the n looks like this:   
> 


	27. A Rousing Game of Hide and Seek

"That's odd," Jemma frowned as she reached for her latest batch of QNB. 

"What is?" Maddie asked, reading over Jemma's notes to see if she had any more suggestions for her. 

"Some of my samples seem to be missing." She started counting vials to be sure, but she knew how many there were supposed to be, and this wasn't it.

"Some of your--" Maddie turned to look at her friend in shock. "Some of your samples of an _extremely potent_   _truth serum_ are missing?" she asked, her voice high and incredulous. Her face was both horrified and worried. 

Jemma nodded, biting her lip in concern.

"And your reaction to that was 'that's odd'?!" Maddie quoted in disbelief. 

\---------------------

 Jamie skulked down the hallway to the AV lab, groaning slightly under the weight of his backpack. He should have left it behind, but he didn't want Fitz snooping around. 

When he arrived at the room, he cracked the door open and looked in. Celeste was there connecting a drone to a computer with its cable. It was his lucky day! She hadn't seen the footage yet. Taking out his phone, he quickly texted her.

He watched as she took her phone out of her back pocket and read the message. She stood there for a moment, phone in one hand and drone in the other, obviously balancing her options. Finally, she muttered something to herself and put the drone down to reply.

She was obviously hoping that she could quickly scan through the video footage to get a face before she had to meet him. Well, that wouldn't do.

Staring at his phone as he composed his own reply, Jamie burst through the door of the AV lab and dropped his bag on a chair by the door. 

"Oh!" Celeste gasped, jumping slightly. "Hi," she smiled nervously. Her eyes shifted to the drone before returning quickly to his face. 

"Hey yourself," Jamie replied, trying his best to look surprised. "I didn't know you ever used the AV lab," he smiled. "Nice!" he offered her his open palm for a high five.

"Um, yeah," she replied, awkwardly slapping his hand. "Well, since you're here you wanna just..." she gestured vaguely at the door. 

Jamie shrugged. "Sure," he agreed casually while internally rejoicing. "I can work on this after," he said, waving in the direction of his bag. He hoped she wouldn't ask what 'this' was because he didn't actually have anything with him.

"Oh you're..." she paused, trying to look interested instead of disappointed. "You're going to be working on something this afternoon?"

"Yeah," he nodded, wracking his brain for some kind of project. "Trying to finish up the subs on this anime I'm watching." He cringed inside. Anime? Way to be a fucking nerd.

"You like anime?" Celeste asked, and she seemed genuinely interested this time.

"Uh, yeah," he answered, a bit unsure. "Do you?"

"Yeah," she said with a big smile. "You can tell me about it over lunch."

Jamie blinked twice as she took his arm and started towards the door. What had just happened there?

\---------------------

"You lost  _what_?" Fitz practically shrieked. 

Jemma's hands fluttered up as she tried to calm him down. "More like... misplaced," she offered, face an adorable mask of oops.

"And that's different  _how_?" Fitz asked, already opening cupboards to search for the missing vials. 

She twisted her fingers together and winced. "It sounds nicer?" she tried. 

"Hah!"

"It's not next door, either," Maddie announced, returning to the lab. "Are you  _sure_ you've counted correctly?" she asked, piercing Jemma with a sharp look.

"I've counted and recounted," Jemma confirmed. "And cross-referenced with my notes on destroyed samples." She took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm definitely missing 3 vials of the newest formula."

"Well," Fitz offered, emptying out the entire refrigerator to look at the backs of the shelves. "At least it's useless without my delivery system," his voice was muffled by how deep his head was buried in the appliance.

Jemma bit her lower lip and her shoulders raised slightly in preemptive defence. "About that," she said.

Fitz's head popped back out of the refrigerator at the same time that Maddie rounded on her. "What," they both asked at the same time, neither one hopeful about what her clarification might reveal.

 


	28. Everyone Is Talking At Once

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> seriously people. EVERYONE TALKS AT ONCE.  
> This was the hardest thing ever to write because I had 5 people all talking over and to each other at the same time. I just hope you can understand what's going on.  
> Massive shoutout to [notapepper](http://archiveofourown.org/users/notapepper/pseuds/notapepper) for beta help on this one. It's much better than it was originally.

"Celeste! Jamie!" Maddie shouted as she saw them pass the lab door. "Get in here, _stat_!"

The two shared a meaningful look full of questions about sanity.

"Did you just say 'stat'?" Celeste asked disbelievingly.

"People really do that off of TV?" Jamie asked, just as incredulous.

"They really don't," Celeste answered, chock full of sarcasm.

"Then that means..." Jamie looked around the room dramatically before striking a heroic pose. "We're on TV _right now!_ "

"Ugh," Maddie groaned in frustration. "Just get a room already and save us from this puke fest."

Jamie's pose immediately shrank into one of constipation and froze there. "Wat," he said, completely deadpan.

Celeste chuckled awkwardly and punched Jamie in the arm. "She's just joshing us," she said, voice shaking slightly. " _Aren't you_ , Maddie?" She glared at her former friend.

"Actually," Jemma chimed in as she moved closer to Fitz, "I'm pretty sure she was referring to the fact that you're clearly flirting with each other." She grabbed her boyfriend's hand in hers.

"Wha... We're not... I'm... You're..." Jamie's panicked expression flitted from face to face until he landed on Celeste's. "So pretty," he sighed. Then he immediately clapped a hand over his mouth in horror.

Fitz leaned towards Celeste and stage whispered, "He's your secret admirer, by the way." He breathed deeply and smiled. "And you smell nice."

Jemma yanked him back, a cross look on her face. "Hey!" she protested at the same time that Celeste said, "I know."

"You _know_??" Maddie shouted, arms waving wildly in an arc.

"You _know_?" Jamie asked at the same time, looking stricken.

"You had your chance with her and you blew it," Jemma continued over top of her friends. 

"Then why was I keeping my mouth shut?" Maddie asked the sky.

"I need to sit down," Jamie whimpered, dropping onto the floor.

"But I still worry that you like her more and you'll break up with me to be with her." Jemma's eyes widened halfway through the sentence and continued to grow as she talked.

"You _what?_ " Fitz asked Jemma at the same time Celeste asked Maddie. Jamie, meanwhile, had curled into a ball.

"Wendel told me," Maddie explained off-handedly.

"Why would I break up with you?" Fitz asked, confused.

"I'm not James Bond," Jamie whispered to himself.

"Wendel?" Celeste asked, kneeling down beside Jamie.

"To be with Celeste," Jemma pointed out quite reasonably.

"We've been hooking up," Maddie shrugged.

The four other people in the room all turned to her at once with a collective, " _What?!_ "

"What?" she shrugged again.

Fitz turned back to Jemma, remembering what he was going to say. "But I've liked you since orientation."

"I thought you were too old for him?" Jemma asked at the same time, raising an eyebrow.

"Betrayed by my best friend!" Jamie moaned, covering his face in his hands.

"Oh hush," Celeste snapped. "I like you too."

"Orientation?" Jemma asked, surprised.

"What?" Jamie asked.

"When did this happen?" Celeste demanded to Maddie.

"That's what I want to know," Jamie agreed, looking at Celeste.

"Hallowe'en," Maddie admitted.

Fitz nodded, bringing Jemma in for a hug.

" _Hallowe'en_!" Celeste repeated in shock.

"I could have asked you out at Hallowe'en?" Jamie choked.

"I liked Fitz at Hallowe'en," Celeste disagreed.

"I knew it!" Jemma punched the air.

Fitz grabbed her hand and pulled it down again. "It's a bit bitchy to gloat like that, Jemma," he warned.

Celeste and Maddie turned to her. "It wasn't exactly a secret," Maddie commented.

"A _bitch_?" Jemma asked, thoroughly insulted. " _I'm_ a bitch?"

"You deliberately went after the guy I liked?" Celeste asked.

"So wait, _when_ did you like me?" Jamie asked, looking from one woman to the other in the hopes of getting an answer.

"You're kind of rubbing her face in it," Fitz shrugged.

"He's not wrong," Maddie agreed.

"This morning," Celeste said, smiling at Jamie. "When I saw the tape and put it all together."

"That's a nice thing to say to your girlfriend," Jemma said, smacking Fitz in the back of the head.

"You watched it?" Jamie asked, falling back to lie on the floor again.

"And _you_ ," Jemma pointed at Celeste, "Didn't even like him until you thought _he_ was your secret admirer."

"And smacking the guy you love is so nice, is it?" Maddie asked.

"You what?" Fitz asked, swinging his head back and forth between Maddie and Jemma, not sure which one he wanted to answer him first.

"You thought it was _Fitz_?" Jamie asked, not sure if he should be proud or disappointed. Maybe he  _was_ James Bond after all.

"I love you," Jemma whispered, trying not to let the words out.

"You're amazing," Celeste whispered, taking Jamie's hand.

" _Finally_!" Maddie sighed dramatically.

"Please be my girlfriend?" Jamie asked, face full of sincerity for possibly the first time in his life.

"You do?" Fitz asked, his expression a combination of hope and disbelief.

Celeste smiled, "Okay."

Jemma nodded, still terrified. "For a while now."

Jamie jumped up and pulled Celeste up with him. "Everybody dance now!" he shouted, hitting a button on his phone.

Jemma couldn't hear over the sudden blast of C&C Music Factory, but it looked like Fitz's lips were saying, "I love you too."

Jamie and Celeste started dancing together while Fitz and Simmons rushed together in a kiss.

Maddie looked at the two couples being all lovey-dovey in front of her and said the only thing she could say. "Wendel has a huge cock and he really knows how to use it."

 


	29. Weavering it All Together

"So let me get this straight," Agent Weaver folded her hands on her desk and shifted stiffly in her seat. She looked up at the group of students standing sheepishly in front of her and listed their various sins in turn.

"You," she pointed at Jemma, "Lost samples of the _truth serum_ we've been collaborating on."

Jemma nodded miserably, clutching Fitz's arm and wishing a hole would open up and swallow her.

"Because _you_ ," she pointed to Jamie, "Stole them from the lab refrigerator."

Jamie puffed out his cheeks and let out an explosive breath. "That is a true fact, yes," he nodded.

"As revenge for _you_ ," she looked at Fitz and then glanced down at her notes. "Broke into the lab electrical room," she read out slowly, getting more incredulous with each word, "And rewired the _entire building_ to flash 'Jamie sucks' on an endless loop?"

Fitz tried to look sorry for his actions, but he was still entirely too proud of himself. He yelped when Jemma stepped on his foot.

Weaver sighed and brushed her hair back from her forehead. If she'd known that running the Academy would be this similar to an 80's frat comedy, she never would have accepted the promotion.

"Aright," she breathed, keeping a tight reign on her temper. "That part seems clear enough, if not _extraordinarily_ ridiculous," she pinned them each with a glare. "But how was the truth serum aerosolized? It's meant to be injected."

Maddie raised an awkward hand. "I think that's _my_ fault," she admitted.

Weaver raised an eloquent brow and waited for more information.

"Jemma and I had been discussing how to administer a truth serum in difficult situations," she explained lamely. "Such as when there is a physical danger associated with attempting injection."

"So you just went ahead and modified the serum without any consultation?" Weaver clarified.

Maddie grinned weakly. "I was showing initiative?" she tried.

"But that's why I made the needle gun!" Fitz protested, looking from Jemma to Maddie and back. "You said you needed a delivery device that would guarantee the administration of the drug without putting the agent in danger."

"A needle gun?" Weaver asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.

Fitz nodded. "I'm submitting the designs as my term project in Biomedical Engineering," he assured her. "Just needed Jemma to help me work out the kinks first."

"Of course," Weaver agreed, feeling like she was beginning to lose control of the conversation.

"Dr. Weaver?" Celeste asked tentatively.

"Yes, Celeste?"

"I think," she winced slightly. "I think it's my fault that the aerosolized serum spread through the lab building."

Weaver folded her hands together once more and turned to the cadet with a look of stony interest. "I'm listening," she said.

"Well it's just," Celeste squirmed uncomfortably. "Jamie had the stolen samples in his bag, right?"

"That certainly seems to be the case," Weaver confirmed.

"And they were the ones Maddie altered instead of the ones for Fitz's needle gun?"

"Do get on with it, Cadet Cho," Weaver sighed.

"I looked through Jamie's bag and maybe might have accidentally spilled it?" she shrugged helplessly.

"You what?" Jamie asked at the same time as Agent Weaver. "Sorry, ma'am," he apologized. Turning back to Celeste, he whispered. "Why you do a thing like that, baby?"

Celeste blushed. "I was wondering if you had another gift for me?" she asked.

"Gift?" Weaver asked. Then she raised her hands as all of them began talking. "I don't want to know!" she insisted.

"So _that's_ why you went back to the computer lab!" Jamie smacked his forehead. "You said you were getting your jacket, but you didn't have one when you came back."

Celeste smiled weakly. "Oops?"

"Yes, yes," Weaver waved them to be quiet. "You can discuss that on your own time." She looked at each student in turn and sighed. "I'll be considering this situation carefully," she told them, "And I'll let you know what sort of consequences you'll be facing." They all began to protest, but she silenced them with a look. " _After_ I deal with the fallout of 27 other students and 3 faculty members who were _also_ exposed to the truth serum." She sighed. Vaughn alone was going to take at least an hour to talk down off the ceiling.

"Do you think I could have access to the data for analysis?" Jemma asked, a bit too eagerly.

"No," Weaver said, and there would be no arguing with that tone. "Dismissed."

The cadets shuffled awkwardly out of her office, and Weaver turned to the files in front of her. Glancing through some of the incidents, she had no idea how she was going to get through this whole day without either laughing in someone's face or quitting her job. She reached into her desk drawer for some Advil. First thing's first: get rid of the headache those five had just caused.


	30. The End of the Beginning

"Dude!" Oliver shouted when Jamie and Celeste walked over to the cafeteria table hand in hand. "You _told_ her?" he asked, incredulously.

Wendel chimed in with, "About damned time!"

Jamie pounded knuckles with his free hand. "Dude!" he responded. "Of _course_ I--"

Celeste smacked him lightly in the chest. "I had to figure it out on my own," she grinned. "But I'm going to date him, anyway."

"Sweet!"

"Nice one!"

Celeste pulled Jamie over to sit with her by Oliver so that Maddie was left with no option but to sit next to Wendel. "So... Wendel," she said, an amused look on her face as Maddie took a seat awkwardly. "Are _you_ seeing anyone these days?"

Wendel shrugged and turned back to the food on his tray. "Oh, y'know," he stalled. "I go out."

Jamie grinned and swiped a cookie from him. "Who with?" he asked, taking an overly large bite.

Wendel shrugged again. "People?" he asked, shoveling a large forkful of pasta into his mouth.

"People such as...?" Celeste prodded, enjoying herself immensely.

"Oh, for god's sake!" Maddie burst out. "I told them we were hooking up," she sighed, "And now they think we're dating."

"But..."

"I know!" she continued. "I tried to tell them it's all about the sex but--"

"You can say that again," Oliver chimed in. He and Maddie exchanged fist bumps of their own in front of Wendel's rapidly reddening face.

Jamie laughed for a second before frowning in confusion. "Wait a second," he said.

Celeste looked from Oliver to Maddie to Wendel with dawning realization. It seemed there was a _lot_ going on that she hadn't known about. Blinking, she attempted to reassess her opinion of Wendel, but she just couldn't quite get there. "Wow," she said, still processing. "The things you learn when the truth serum comes out."

"Wait a second," Jamie said again, pointing from one friend to the other and clearly still confused. 

"Oh honey," Maddie said, not unkindly, and patted his hand. 

"I'll explain later," Celeste reassured him with a kiss on the cheek.

"Wait a second..."

\-------------------------

Fitz rubbed his thumb over Jemma's hand as he held it. She'd been pretty quiet on the walk back to her room from Weaver's office. In fact, if he was being honest, she'd been quiet even before then. 

"I'm sorry," he apologized, staring down at her carpet. 

"What?" Jemma asked, surprised. "What for?"

He shrugged and scuffed a sock along the rug. "You didn't want to say it," he said quietly, sliding his hand out of hers. "And I'm sorry it came out before you were ready."

"Fitz?" she said, and her heart went out to him. He looked the way she'd felt when she thought he wanted to date Celeste. "I _did_ want to say it," she whispered, and she captured his hand between both of her own.

"You did? he asked, and he finally looked up at her. His heart moved from the pit of his stomach to somewhere in orbit.

Jemma smiled and nodded shyly. "I've sort of wanted to shout it, actually," she admitted. The feeling had filled her so completely, it was frankly a bit amazing that she hadn't exploded yet.

"Yeah?" he grinned broadly back. "Go on then," he encouraged her.

"What?" she asked, simultaneously scandalized and tempted.

"Yell it out," he said again.

"I can't just..."

"Sure you can."

"But what about..."

"Doesn't matter."

"But..."

"Do you love me?" he asked, and they were both a bit surprised that he'd come right out and said it.

"Yes," she said firmly, without hesitation. "Do you love me?" and now she held her breath because, much as it had seemed like that's what he'd said amidst the noise and confusion of the truth serum, she hadn't yet actually heard it.

"I can't imagine _not_ loving you," he said, and it felt so good to finally say it that he had to say it again. "I love you, Jemma."

As full of emotions as she'd felt before he'd said it, it was nothing to how she felt now. Her whole face lit up and then she threw back her head and shouted at the top of her lungs, " _ **I love Leopold** **Fitz!**_ "

Fitz laughed and wrapped his arms around her. This was the best moment of his life. Better than getting his PhD. Better than getting into the Academy. Better than Christmas at home with his mum. Better than the day he'd met the girl in front of him right now. " _ **I love Jemma**_ ** _Simmons_!** " he shouted back.

"Congratulations," came a cranky voice through the wall. "Now shut up! Some of us are trying to study!"

They collapsed into giggles on Jemma's bed and before long, the giggles turned into sighs and the sighs turned into moans, and they spent the rest of the night loving and being in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and so ends this fic that ended up going in directions I hadn't really planned on at times, but I think still ended up being a pretty fun ride
> 
> I might write a third installment someday, but for now this universe is complete. I hope you enjoyed it :)

**Author's Note:**

> y=mx+b line stolen from tumblr (http://seventoinfinity.tumblr.com/post/64263576518/discuntinq-using-y-mx-b-to-measure-the)


End file.
